A herd of elephants save a leopard from two lionesses that climbed a tree and fought him for his hard-earned meal.
“We had been tracking a cheetah for some time, following tracks in the sand. When a call came through on the radio that a male leopard had just been spotted. It was the Ravenscourt male. We immediately aborted our cheetah tracking and headed in the direction of the leopard.”
“As we were on our way there another call came through on the radio that he killed an impala. In our pursuit of catching a glimpse of the leopard, we were distracted by the sight of two lionesses. And it looked as if though they were heading in the same direction as us.”
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Sometimes lionesses take advantage of the meals hunted by other predators like leopards. When these clever lionesses spot a leopard who has worked hard to catch its prey. They use their strong and powerful bodies to intimidate the leopard and quickly claim the meal as their own.
“We just got to the sighting and before we knew it the lionesses were there too. One of them climbed the tree in a hurry and in doing so caused the leopard to drop its meal. The other lioness grabbed the kill off the floor and ran off, whilst the first lioness began attacking the leopard.”
“Just when we thought it could not escalate any further, a herd of elephants appeared out of the thickets. Clearly not happy with all the commotion disturbing their day. The elephants began trumpeting which in turn caused the lioness in the tree to flee.”
“The elephants continued their pursuit of the lioness, which gave the leopard a window to escape and he too jumped out of the tree and ran off. Leaving us in awe of what had just transpired.”
Elephants sometimes chase off lions as they feel threatened by their presence. When they see lions, they trumpet loudly to warn them and show that they mean business. The lions, being smaller and less powerful, get scared and run away. Elephants are protective and want to keep their loved ones safe, so they use their size and strength to intimidate the lions and make sure they stay far away.