Lions and hyenas get all the attention in Africa. Sure, they’re major predators, but they’re not the only hunters out there. High up in the trees, leopards lounge in the shade and gaze across the bustling savanna.
Leopards are one of the five “big cats”, which also include lions, tigers, jaguars, and snow leopards.
Their name is derived from the Greek words λέων (leon), which means lion, and (πάρδος) pardos, which means male panther.
As big cats, leopards are adept and opportunistic predators, and they eat anything from dung beetles to common elands, making their diet more diverse than any of the other four big cats.
They have even been known to kill and eat humans.
So what makes them so deadly? Well, leopards tend to climb trees to avoid lions and hyenas, and they frequently carry heavy prey up into them. However, in some cases, they may launch an attack from a tree.
In the video below, a leopard does just that.
This perfectly demonstrates the skill and ingenuity these magnificent predators possess to take down their prey. The leopard leaps straight down on an impala, tackling it immediately and causing the rest of the herd to scatter. Then, it drags its kill up into the tree to hide it from other predators.