Andre Fourie, a Royal Malewane game ranger and safari guide, shared this rare footage of an encounter depicting a nyala calf’s attempts to defend itself against a nonchalant leopard.
Fourie shared a video and recounted this experience to safari game sightings site, Latest Sightings. In the short clip shot during a game drive, visitors would’ve witnessed a baby nyala curiously approaching a male leopard that was lazing about in the Greater Kruger National Park. The nyala runs into the leopard in and headbutts it, and on other occasions, the calf runs into its chest and underneath it.
By nightfall the leopard, who patiently walked after the nyala which slowly walked away (not fast enough to outrun him), eventually placed its hefty paw on the young antelope, pinning it lightly to the ground. He then proceeded to pick it up and stalked off, seemingly heading for a tree.
‘I’ve seen similar things happen on television, but this was an absolute first for me to experience first-hand,’ Fourie told the safari sightings site. ‘When it comes to an interaction like this, enjoy the rarity of the action that is unfolding. From a practical, ethical and physical perspective, give enough space where [neither] the predator nor the prey have an advantage or disadvantage.’
Featured image: still of footage by Andre Fourie, via Latest Sightings.
