Look what the cat dragged in …
Image © Dietmar Willuhn
Photographer Dietmar Willuhn captured these striking (and slightly unsettling) images of a leopard with an unusual catch in Botswana’s Selinda Game Reserve back in November 2012.
The unfortunate victim here is a caracal (Caracal caracal), a small, notoriously elusive cat that’s found throughout Africa, as well as in central and south-west Asia.
Willuhn was on a guided safari drive when the tour group came across a leopard and her cub. “We were able to follow the leopard for some time,” he told Africa Geographic. “The peaceful situation suddenly changed when the leopard left the small cub hidden in the bushes to continue on her own.
Leopards are opportunistic hunters and will prey on anything that’s edible (even rhinos or bloated zebra carcasses), so while Willuhn and the rest of the tour group were anticipating an impala kill, the leopard had honed in on something else.
Image © Dietmar Willuhn
Image © Dietmar Willuhn
Image © Dietmar Willuhn
Image © Dietmar Willuhn
Image © Dietmar Willuhn
Image © Dietmar Willuhn
Image © Dietmar Willuhn