Leopard hangs his kill out of reach

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We headed out into Botswana's Moremi Game Reserve today with three animals in mind and ended the day having seen two of the three.

As we drove along one of the floodplains, crew member Jason Loughran noticed a spotted hyena about 200m (650ft) to our left, so we decided to follow it.

About 50m (164ft) down the track something else caught my eye. This serendipitous sighting turned out to be the dominant male leopard (Panthera pardus) of the Xakanaxa area. We were fortunate to have spotted it, especially at this time of the year with the change of seasons.

We moved towards the leadwood tree (Combretum imberbe) from which the leopard had jumped down, and immediately saw its kill a half-eaten impala lamb (Aepyceros melampus) slung over a branch.

The lamb had probably been caught during the early hours of the morning. Its cries of distress would have attracted the hyena. The hyena's presence would also explain why the carcass was hung in the tree, as this large male leopard previously kept its kills on the ground.

As we approached the tree, the leopard was lying on the trunk, well camouflaged by the tall grass. We spent some time observing the large cat lounging in the grass and on a nearby fallen trunk, before he gracefully climbed back up the tree and returned to his meal.

It was quite a balancing act for the leopard to keep comfortably positioned on the branch while not dropping the carcass. We were truly amazed at his display of agility.

We stayed with the leopard until he had finished eating the impala, but once he returned to the ground we lost sight of him in the long grass. We were all in awe of this graceful and mysterious animal and grateful for such a glorious day spent watching his fascinating behaviour.

Category:

Pets & Animals

Tags:

• Panthera pardus
• Feed
• Panthera
• Pardus
• Carnivore
• Carcass
• Predator
• Prey
• Graham Springer
• Jason Loughran
• Penny Light
• Taryn Mavrodaris
• Hyena
• Xakanaxa
• Kill
• Impala
• Okavango Delta
• Hang
• Botswana
• Tree
• Africa
• Branch
• Rivers
• Camouflage
• Lakes and Wetlands
• Scavenger
• Mammals
• Leopard
• Vertebrates
• Moremi

[neeroj7]

awesome....

[thesupremacy]

beautiful leopard.