This is the incident in which a leopard approached an elephant herd too ᴄʟᴏsᴇly and suffered the consequences. The large cat stalked the herd of fifteen elephants, drinking from the same water source. However, one of the herd members noticed the leopard and thought it was being far too brazen, so he sprayed a jet of water in its general direction to ғʀɪɢʜᴛᴇɴ it off.
Mark Müller, 46, who was watching the elephants play at the Kalkeuwel watering hole in Nᴀᴍɪʙɪᴀ’s Etosha National Park, captured the sᴄᴇɴᴇ. They were boisterous and splashing around, spraying water on their backs, according to the Swiss photographer. However, nearby animals like giraffes and zebras plainly detected danger and backed off.
Mr. Müller reported that all of a sudden he saw a leopard entering the open area near the waterhole. The leopard simply strolled to the waterhole amongst some giraffes and elephants without showing any symptoms of anxiety, knelt down, and began to sip up water.
Even though the cat was ᴄʟᴏsᴇ to the much larger elephants, the elephants must have initially been as sʜᴏᴄᴋed as he was at the cat’s carefree attitude. In an attempt to intimidate the leopard, the elephants started to encircle him. It started to move away but stopped between a giraffe and some of the herd. And one of the elephants made the decision to correct the smaller animal at that point.
The elephant must have swallowed up a trunk full of water, soᴍᴇᴛʜing he was unaware of at the time, Mr. Müller added. That elephant shot water at the leopard, who was only five meters away, in a split second. The unexpected shower caused the leopard to flee into the bushes, and Mr. Müller was left speechless by his good fortune.
He didn’t believe he took a breath from the time the leopard began moving between the elephants toward the waterhole, the man claimed. The shower came as a complete sᴜʀᴘʀɪsᴇ, and he considered himself really lucky to have filmed it. Leopards are already difficult to see in the wild, so this was exceptional.