Leopards will keep young antelopes alive so that the calls of distress might attract the mother, allowing the leopard to catch both!
Nic Coleman, guide at AndBeyond’s Kirkmans Camp, captured this once-in-lifetime footage in which they came across a leopard playing with its food, while the food is busy crying for help.
Nic Coleman and his tracker were driving along the Sand River out of Kirkmans Kamp and had come to a stop along the road to watch some Elephants in the river when they suddenly heard distress calls coming from due south of their location!
Quickly, they rushed over, and Nic, and his trackers, spotted this young female leopard that had just caught a baby duiker! While watching this sighting, the leopard picked up the duiker and strolled along through the grass as the baby cried for its mother, trapped in the predator’s grip.
Laying down with the duiker at some logs in the long grass, the leopard then proceeded to torment the young antelope. Like any cat with a mouse, it would let the baby loose, but grab hold of it if it tried to get away or knock it over with a swipe of its claws. Watching this display, Nic and his guests assumed it did this to try and lure in the mother!
Leopards have been known to not kill baby antelopes instantly, so that the calls for help might attract the mother, allowing the leopard to take both as a meal.
The leopard spent the next forty-five minutes playing with the baby Duiker, chasing it around, and all the while, the mother Duiker was running around about fifty meters from the youngster, but never getting too close enough to become prey for the leopard!
In the end though, after the leopard had tried her best to lure the mother duiker in, to no avail, she gave up, killed the duiker, and proceeded to eat it!
“It was absolutely amazing to watch,” Nic states. “But heart-breaking to hear the Duiker calling and trying to get away! Definitely, one of the most amazing sightings to ever witness!”
