This unbelievable wildlife sighting happened this week in MalaMala Game Reserve. Ranger Thabs was there to see it firsthand and shared his footage with Latest Sightings.
Due to the competition for resources, leopards, and lions have an ancient rivalry that stems back centuries. The two species of big cats have been known to target one another’s vulnerable babies whenever given the chance.
Even larger-sized leopards tend to be significantly smaller than the average-sized lioness. This is why we never see leopards challenging adult lions; they’re outsized and cannot match the lion’s physical strength. Leopards are, however, very aware of their surroundings, and in most cases, lions stand little chance of actually catching one.
This time, for one unlucky leopard, known as the Plaque Rock Female, the script changed when she found herself surrounded by a pride of unforgiving lions. The leopard was left with only one option, and that was to fight back, which she did to the best of her abilities, but this was no more than a mismatch.
Three of the Ntsevu Pride lionesses attacked from whichever angle they could find, and it was all over pretty much before it began. One of them latched onto the leopard’s neck in the infamous ‘death grip.’ That’s when the other lions backed up and let their sister finish the job. A sad ending for the leopard indeed.
Throughout the incident, the dominant male lion of the pride surprisingly didn’t seem to be so interested in the leopard. Besides sniffing the dying big cat a few times, the leader of the pride had other things in mind.
Among the chaos going on around him, the male lion amazingly seemed to have mistaken just exactly what the lioness’s intentions were, while she was finishing off the job with the leopard. Unexpectedly, for everyone watching, the male lion swung around and climbed on top of the lioness, and then started to show some interesting behavior.
