It was a desperate attempt by a predator to avoid becoming prey when an elephant chased it from its herd in South Africa.
This is the moment a leopard had to leap into a tree to avoid being cr.u.s.hed by an elephant, as photographed by 60-year-old photographer Kevin Dooley.
As the leopard took refuge in the tree’s limbs, the elephant’s trunk was seen reaching upward.
Dooley, a New Mexico native, captured some stunning images of a bull elephant ch.a.r.ging near a large cat in Madikwe Game Reserve.
To protect itself from a bull elephant that had been pursuing it, a leopard climbed a lofty tree in South Africa and hid there.
At Madikwe Game Reserve in South Africa, an elephant was seen wandering all around a big tree and raising its trunk at a hidden leopard.
Even though the bull elephant tried very hard, the leopard stayed in place on a tree and refused to move.
Bull elephants chased the leopard as it sat on a tree, refusing to move, even though it was in a dangerous position.
“The bull elephant could smell the leopard from a mile away, Kevin added. When he got close to the tree, he made an attempt to chase the leopard away, but the leopard was unmoved.”
Over the course of an hour or an hour and a half, I was transfixed.
While seeing an elephant and a leopard interact in the open is a once-in-a-lifetime event, attempting to find leopards in the wild may be tough. When I saw what I was seeing, my jaw dropped to the floor. ‘
Large predators like lions and leopards have been known to hunt elephants in the wild, acting aggressively to protect the younger members of their herd.
The elephant used every trick to get to the leopard sitting on top of the tree, including its trunk.
The elephant circled the tree’s base, waiting for a chance to scare the predator away after the huge cat had jumped up to relative safety.
When elephants perceive a predator, such as a lion or leopard, as a threat to their herd, they will attack and chase the predator away.
Although the enraged elephant made many attempts, the leopard managed to hang onto the tree branch and escape.
Elephants typically make trumpeting noises to ward off predators, even if they don’t chase them into trees.
When herds are out h.u.n.ting in the savannah, low roars are the primary means by which they communicate with one another and warn one another of potential threats.
Due to the herd mindset of protection, predatory animals like leopards and lions have little chance of surviving against even the smallest adult elephants. Other elephants charge or demonstrate violent body language to dissuade would-be assailants.