This is an incredibly busy week for me, so I am unable to release an extensive post. However, a friend recently shared this extraordinary video with me. It features a mother leopard (Panthera pardus) in South Africa’s Greater Kruger National Park who faced off with a four-metre long (13 ft) rock python.
According to the original article from Earth Touch News, the confrontation arose when the curious leopard cub spooked the python. The commotion attracted the cub’s mother, who took on the giant snake. While it was not caught on video, the leopard eventually managed to kill the python.
Here is an extended version:
These videos do a great job of showcasing just how athletic and extraordinary leopards are. This is important for conservation, because highlighting how awesome the natural world is can encourage people to protect it (Blackmore, Underhill, McQuilkin, Leach, & Holmes, 2013).
Oh my!!! Why was that leopard going for it? For a minute there, I thought he’d be a goner. My heart was racing. Great video!
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To be honest, I think she was going after the python for food. If she was just defending her cub then she probably would’ve backed off once the snake ‘ran’ for cover.
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I thought that as well, but it is curious. Poor thing. Whatever the reason, she put on a good show.
I was just thinking how like my kitty, who recently took on a cat almost twice her size to run it out of the yard. I don’t know who made the first move, but she did get hurt. I told her that at 14, she should know better. It was the first where she didn’t fare well. Sometimes those things can backfire as it possibly looked like it could have with the python.
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Attacking the python was definitely a risky move. But sometimes it’s difficult to figure out why cats do the things they do. As a cat owner, I’m sure you understand!
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Amazing video, Josh :)
xo
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It certainly is!
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:D
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Incredible! Definitely not something you see every day – that’s a once in a lifetime sighting…
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Absolutely!
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