This has been the week of predator interaction…
The old male lion Marvin stole an Impala kill from our resident female leopard (Twinspots) and her cub. The cub escaped up a nearby tree where he swayed back and forth in the top branches. Twinspots retreated to the foot of the tree and watched as Marvin feasted on her kill. Then Marvin lay down in the shade next to the remains of the Impala. For a whole day we could view Marvin under one tree and Twinspots under another, with her cub by this time locked on with his paws to a small branch high in the tree. And this is not the first time this has happened to Twinsposts. In fact, ever since Marvin was driven off by the two younger males, wounded and limping, he has survived by stealing prey from other predators such as Twinspots. When Marvin finally moved on it was a day later and Twinspots and her cub must have been exhausted, hungry and thirsty. The good news is that Twinspots has learnt her lesson and a couple of days later made a kill and dragged it high enough into a tree that no lion could reach it.
Then we were watching another female leopard and her cub relaxing further south in Thornybush when the cub suddenly jumped up and bolted up the nearest tree. The mother was unphased at first but then she (and we) saw two of the northern lionesses moving in for the attack. The mother leopard then promptly joined her cub high enough up in the tree to be out of reach of the lionesses. Leopards are competition for lions and they will kill them whenever they get the chance. Luckily these leopards survived to see another day.
An even more unusual confrontation happened between a leopard and a hyena. A young male leopard had just made a kill but, before he could enjoy his meal, a male hyena appeared. The hyena was intent on robbing the leopard of his kill and a fight ensued, with the leopard landing several successful blows with his claws. The hyena backed off, leaving the leopard victorious, this time at least…
