An unlucky cheetah wanders into this leopard’s territory in search of food but is unable to escape from the leopard in time.
“It was the dry season in Ndutu, Tanzania; water was scarce, and the animals were few. Draughts like these are often taxing on all animals; only the strongest survive. The lack of water meant that many herbivores began moving further in search of greener pastures. This in turn left very little for the predators to hunt.”
“We believe this particular cheetah left the grassy open savannah in search of food. Unfortunately for him, he ended up entering prime leopard territory in the process. When we spotted the cheetah, the monkeys in the woodland were already alarm calling and notifying anything else in the area that there was something going on.”
A leopard eating a cheetah was captured on film in a once in a lifetime sighting!
Many animals use alarm calls as a means of alerting other prey species that there is imminent danger. However, these alarm calls also draw the attention of other predators at times. They approach the calls, thinking there may be an easy meal to scavenge.
“As we followed the cheetah, it went through some thick grass, and that is when one of my clients saw the leopard. He snapped a few shots that only later revealed the cheetah was already being stalked! The leopard was using a tree to conceal his stalk, and that was the same tree the cheetah was standing behind.”
“Before we knew it, the leopard had grabbed the cheetah, and we moved around quickly to get a better angle. The leopard was clearly shy and stashed the cheetah in some thick bushes. We gave the leopard some space and left him alone. The next morning we returned, hoping to find the leopard more relaxed and feeding, but as soon as we got to the leopard, he left the tree and ran off. The cheetah carcass was still in the tree.”
“Later that day, we again tried to get a sighting. We found the leopard in another tree, this time a lot more relaxed, so we waited. Eventually he came down and headed for the tree the cheetah was in. We sat at a distance, filming it, and were fortunate enough to capture the sighting of a lifetime. A leopard eating a cheetah up in a tree!