A brave newborn buck, in a fight for its life, headbutts a leopard that’s trying to eat it when it realizes its mother has left it alone.
Johan Seekles, a manager at Fokker Services Group, captured the heartbreaking moments on film and shared them with LatestSightings.com.
“We had been driving down the main tar road towards Satara Rest Camp, not very hopeful of anything special as it was pretty late in the morning already. The area around Satara Rest Camp is mostly open plains with small shrubs and bushes scattered throughout. As we were approaching a small thicket on the roadside, a flutter of movement caught my eye.”
“Slowing down to investigate the movement, I saw a mother leopard! I couldn’t believe my eyes. Just then, some more movement behind the bushes drew my attention, and it was the leopard’s cub. The cub was sitting in the long grass with a small buck between its paws.”
“The little newborn buck looked like a duiker and was still very much alive. My theory is that the mother duiker had hidden her newborn in the thick bush, and the leopard, by mistake, found it. The leopard cub was extremely curious. You could see he had no idea what to do.”
“That’s when the most heartbreaking thing happened. The little duiker’s survival instincts kicked in, and it tried to fight the inevitable. It headbutted the leopard cub several times, hoping to escape. But the leopard cub didn’t give it a chance and continued pawing at the little buck, pushing it from side to side. The duiker squealed and cried for help.”
“Eventually, the duiker was put out of its misery, and the hunting lesson was over. The cub picked up the duiker and made off with it. It went into some taller grass, and we were unable to see the ending. But it was definite that the little leopard cub was the only winner on this day.”
Leopard moms teach their cubs how to hunt. They show them how to camouflage and be patient while hunting. At first, the cubs watch their mom closely and copy her. As they grow, the mom lets them practice with small prey. She guides them gently, teaching them to be careful and precise. This helps the cubs learn to hunt on their own and survive in the wild.
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Toying with your food
"Brave of you boy. But I had thought you'd learn your lesson."
"I am a slow learner."
It's so great that they became friends frolicking into the sunset.
I know it's Nature but he was so brave (I'd of honked)🤷🏼😉❣️🇺🇸🇨🇱
At some point you know who cares and loves you… and who just acts love…..
I thought they were going to become friends until the end
seems like the leopard distracted by the shutter sound
When you have heart of lion but size of chicken nuggets
little side dish
i’m just saying it would have survived if he didn’t act like a big tough guy
It's hard to watch 😢
Lmao instinct would have kicked in if the buck ran away at high speed. Maybe. However it was, the leopard was hungry regardless, and was like: "sorry bro, not evil, gotta eat"
Nature can be cruel sometimes!
What I don’t understand is why did the Mother Buck left or abandoned her baby in the first place?
0:15= Take that! Don’t mess with me you big bully!
Baby buck= “Help, Help .”
these people are taking videos, they can't talk to the managers of the national park so that they can take the small animals and take care of them until they are ready to be returned to the forest, it's very sad
so sad, id go scoop it up id have to! pore little brave guy
I like how that leopard showed itself to the little antelope. 0:05
Slowy comes round the side "Boo" lol
I think it was expecting a bigger reaction.
wow!
Honestly was hoping a huge buck with a decent set of antlers would come out of nowhere and knock the leopard flat on its tail. Had the fawn been fully grown this would have probably had a different outcome.
Ag moeder. My hart breek vir die ou kleintjie…
shit…！ Disgusting leopard!
Oh! lovely Buck
I hate it when leopards play with their food.
Cat instincts are so interesting! It seemed like the leopard would only view it as prey when it was running. As soon as it stopped, there leopard stopped too and just looked around confused
😱
Leopards are REALLY smart and clever. I think observers are right that a leopard keeps a baby "anything" around, making it squeak and squeal to attract its mother for an upgraded meal. You always see the leopards looking around with these baby animals. Could be looking for the mother or just protecting itself and its prey. They seem to know a mother's protective instincts where they risk their lives for their young. I've come to this conclusion after seeing both male and female leopards do this, so it's not just a paternal instinct. (which can be the case as well for a mother leopard who has lost cubs). Males don't raise their offspring and don't care about them.
Brave little soul .this is why I don't believe in survival of the fittest.a few days old maybe. nothing to fear in life or death .he is with Jesus.
You should have saved baby buck instead of making hopeless video
Born fighter
What we have here is simply a cat playing with its food. The game ended when the leopard tired of it.
Fresh and tender meat…
Buck: Get back you creep or I'll head butt you
Leopard: wait until the coast is clear and you are dead meat kid