A young leopard found a lost duckling while waiting for mom to return; much like a domesticated cat, the leopard played with the duckling – thankfully, the terrified bird outsmarted its captor – watch!
Hoedspruit, South Africa (14 June 2023) – You can’t take the cat out of the leopard (or is it the other way around?). Any cat owner will tell you, cats have a habit of catching things for fun and then just leaving them as gifts for their parents. Apparently, young leopards are no different. A young leopard recently found a lost duckling and decided to play around with it. Thankfully, for our hearts, the duckling outsmarted the leopard in the end.
Benji Solms, a guide at Serondella Game Lodge, captured the great escape on camera and shared it with LatestSightings.com.
“One of the resident female leopards in the area had made a kill on the banks of a dry riverbed. Her cub had joined her during the night and was now in the same river bed as the kill. We had been watching them for some time, and the little cub seemed playful as it ran up and down the river sand.”
“It all changed in a heartbeat when a few goslings appeared at one end of the river bed. They were walking straight to the leopard and her cub, and they had no idea! The cub noticed the movement, but luckily for the little goslings, they went into thicker bush. One gosling then decided to come out into the open, and that’s when the leopard went for it.”
“The gosling was able to use our vehicle as some cover and went under the vehicle. However, as soon as it came out from under the leopard, it caught it and ran off with it. The smart little bird played dead, and that’s when the leopard let it go. But as soon as it ran off again, the leopard pounced and once again caught it!”
“The leopard then took its prize up into a nearby tree, and we all thought it was the end for the little bird. Playing dead still, the gosling found itself up a tree and helpless. But luck truly was on this little one’s side, and he fell out of the tree. The gosling still playing dead, lying on the ground, hoping it will put the leopard off.”
“To everyone’s surprise, the leopard remained in the tree, closely watching the gosling. Seizing the moment, the gosling took a chance and ran towards the thick bushes where its siblings were hiding. Disappearing into the dense bush, the gosling successfully escaped the leopard, leaving the predator unable to locate it again.”
Take a look at the clever duckling’s escape below.
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