It’s not just politicians who fight tooth and nail for power.
These striking images show the moment two young leopards faced off in a bitter and bloody struggle for territory, to match anything you will see in Westminster.
Claws are out: The two young male leopards fight over territory in the MalaMala Game Reserve in South Africa, while a hyena watches the spectacular clash
Face off: The leopards size each other up as they prepare to do battle
When two younger, fitter males bent on domination arrived on the scene, the current boss, an older male, named by locals as ‘Manyelethi’ sensed trouble.
‘With three big male leopards in the area the scene was set for fireworks,’ Mr Batchelor said.
‘Manyelethi decided that both younger males were too much of a match for him and snuck off up the Mlowathi River roaring his disgust at having his territory invaded.’
What followed was a tense stalemate to the sound of growling and hissing and pacing up and down as the rivals sized each other up.
But while there was a lot of bad noise between the two that night, it wasn’t until the next evening that tensions turned into all out war as these images reveal.
When Mr Batchelor returned to the same spot he realised the deadly rivals were preparing to fight.
At first it was more of the same bravado as before, both posturing as and snarling and pacing threateningly, Mr Batchelor said.
But then out of nowhere the situation exploded.
Fireworks: The big cats take a tumble and the hyena continues to enjoy the spectacle
Epic battle: Despite the vicious fighting the two leopards eventually end their combat and decide to share the territory using the river as a border
The photographer, who witnessed the drama from metres away, said: ‘Diving through the air the males crashed into each other, both going immediately for the head and neck area.