A lone serval found itself face-to-face with four cheetahs, and the hair-raising situation will have you fixed to your screen.
Pilanesberg, South Africa (16 February 2021) – We have all seen the neighbourhood cats get upset with each other when they cross paths so seeing it happen between a serval and cheetah is riveting stuff!
Knowing they are all cats never makes the surprise any less when wild cats act like domesticated ones. Latest Sightings released a video of a serval and cheetah crossing paths at the Ivory Tree Lodge in the Pilanesberg. The video had us transfixed. We watched holding our breath, waiting for the situation to escalate all the while, hoping it wouldn’t.
This once in a lifetime sighting was captured by 23-year-old data analyst, Gavin Newfield, while on a holiday with Ivory Tree Lodge at Pilanesberg Game Reserve in South Africa.
“Upon approach, we saw a distant wildebeest mimicking the aesthetic of a buffalo; this brought the vehicle to a halt.
My girlfriend tapped my shoulder, ‘is that a caracal?’ I, having never seen a caracal immediately dismissed the idea that the wildebeest could have been a buffalo and turned my attention to the “caracal.”
“With a slightly sinister voice, I told my girlfriend that her sights were firmly stuck on a serval, something neither of us had seen before. Quickly, the attention of our driver was caught, whispers echoed a silent Hilux as mentions of a cheetah started to creep through and low and behold, 4 cheetahs, a serval and a ‘buffalo’ characterized what I consider to be the greatest sighting of my life so far.”
“Shocked, a need to both film and be in the moment, the sighting held my attention like the nerd in the front seat at school. It was an incredible sighting.”
“The sighting ended when the serval took an opening to exit the battle for territory, as the cheetah recognized the serval’s attempt, he shot towards the serval’s path, but, despite the rustling of leaves, nothing of those two was to be seen again.”
“Perhaps out of peer pressure, the other 3 cheetahs chased the wildebeest beyond human sight and just like that it was over.”
Take a look at the incredible sighting below.
by 