Seeing one leopard is always a treat when on a safari, but two, that is something else!
Ryan Jenkins told LatestSightings.com the story: “This footage was taken on the 8th of August this year, on the road running next to the Sabie River towards Skukuza, just passed the S4.
We came to a curve in the road where we saw a Giraffe standing in the middle of the road looking towards the bush closest to the river with his ears pulled down, which is an obvious sign of nervousness.
Next thing, we saw this great big ball of dust going over the road and I said ‘OK guys, here we go’ and I drove towards the dust ball. We thought it was a
predator, perhaps a lion that just took down an impala.
Getting there, we realized it was a leopard and thought ‘OK, cool! Leopard killing an impala!’ But, to our amazement, it was two leopards, and they were fighting.
When the dust had settled, we saw that one was rather young and small compared to the other, more dominant one, which was attacking the younger
one. We actually thought for a moment that they could just be playing, but just a bit rough.
We quickly realized that they were not playing, this was a brutal attack and it could only be about territory.
Once the little one showed he was submissive, by lying on his back and making himself smaller, and the bigger leopard turned around, walked away and let the little one be on his way.
But the smaller leopard came back again and again, and the older leopard eventually grabbed the small leopard by the neck and held him down forcefully until saw the little one suffocate and there was no life left in him.
The dominant leopard moved his grip from the neck to the mouth. He then bit down so hard, we could hear the skull break. The whole sighting must have
taken about 20 to 25 minutes, it was absolutely horrific to see, but at the same time, very interesting and exciting.
We watched as the big leopard sat up, sniffing and licking the little one for at least 10 minutes, before wandering off into the bush. We went back later in the
afternoon to see if the little one was still there and it was, but the next day it was gone.