Watch how this determined and hungry leopard took extreme measures to make sure he got a piece of food out of a crocodile’s mouth!
This opportunistic leopard was spotted stealing a crocodile’s meal right out of its mouth and was filmed by Nicole Dangoor, a 29-year-old Wildlife Documentary Editor at The Bushcamp Company.
She shared this incredible sighting with LatestSightings.com, and tells the story:
Nicole and her guests went on a night drive in South Luangwa National Park. They stopped to watch a couple of crocodiles fighting. “We quickly drove up to them to see a Leopard and a hyena waiting to get some of the meat.”
“The leopard crept closer and closer to the crocodile. It was extremely interested in what was in the crocodiles mouth.”
“There was a light shining on the crocodile so the guests had a better view of the sighting. The opportunistic leopard took the chance and started biting and clawing at the pieces of meat dangling from the crocodile’s mouth! It got lucky and pulled out a small piece of the meat and started eating it!”
“After a few mouths full, the leopard attempted one final claw at the crocodile. It managed to pull what looked like a whole impala leg from the crocodile’s mouth. This seemed like a fair enough portion for the leopard. It ran off into the distance to eat in peace. The light from the safari visitors followed the leopard into the thicket. With the leopard out of the way, the crocodile made a break for the bushes to eat the remainder of its meal.”
“I love nature and to see these animals and observe their behaviour excited me! I have never seen nor heard of such things happening in the wild.”
Although the caiman is very large and heavy, the jaguar still knocks down its prey underwater with lightning-fast precision with its precise bite.
Wildlife photographer Gudkov Andrey witnesses jaguars hunting caiman crocodiles on the Cuiaba River in Pantanal National Park, Brazil. The jaguar dared to ambush its prey by the riverbank. It snuck up close when the caiman wasn’t on guard and launched an attack on the dangerous part of its body.
The big cat dragged the crocodile to the shore and bit the neck to end the life of the prey. “Jaguars have learned to hunt animals even underwater. They are excellent swimmers and are not afraid of water. This is a large caiman. It is so heavy that it takes a lot of effort for the jaguar to pull its prey. out of the water,” Andrey said.
The American jaguar (Panthera onca) is one of the four largest species of the cat family, next to the lion, tiger and leopard. Its preferred habitats are subtropical and tropical moist broadleaf forests, swamps, or wooded areas. Jaguars love to swim and are solitary predators, attacking targets in ambush fashion. They are animals at the top of the food chain where they live. The recognizable feature of the jaguar is the spots with black dots inside that cover the whole body.
Without the extremely realistic images below, it is probably hard for us to believe that the leopard can be killed by its own prey.
In South Luangw National Park, Zambia, a leopard and crocodile had a fight over the carcass of their prey right on the trail.
The antelope is probably the prey of the leopard, however, the crocodile tries to steal the effort of others. With alligator jaw closing force, of course. The leopard wants to take back the prey is also not easy.
It can be seen that although the crocodile just lay still, the leopard was unable to pull the antelope out. In the end, the leopard had to give up the delicious meal and go elsewhere. The video below was shot by Andy Hogg.
Leopards are Africa’s most successful carnivores, not only having diverse hunting skills, but they also do not refuse any prey in sight (whether it’s an insect or a bird). small).
Thus, in contrast to many other carnivores that often seek to avoid hedgehogs – rodents with sharp spines, leopards do not give up easily when confronted. They still attack enthusiastically even though they know they may be seriously injured.
Most of those battles take place, despite receiving much pain, but leopards still win and eat their prey. However, on an unfortunate day, anything can happen.