Blink and you would miss the gigantic leap a leopard made to ensnare the beast, flipping it high in the air as the leopard sunk its teeth into its neck.
Once on the ground, the impala twitched as the leopard held tighter and dragged it away for a tasty meal.
The incredible, cut-throat moment in the circle of life was captured by Martha van Rensburg and posted on YouTube where it has been viewed more than 938,000 times since it was posted on Tuesday.
Ms van Rensburg was on a predator safari in MalaMala, a game reserve between Kruger National Park and the Sabi Sand Wildtuin in South Africa when she captured the incredible moment according to a MalaMala blog.
The wilderness watchers spotted the well hidden female leopard and parked just five yards from it, waiting and watching for 30 minutes before a herd of skittish impala were spooked and ran start toward the predator on September 29.
The blog said: ‘The wind was making the impala very skittish and even with sentries on the lookout, and one impala in particular looking directly at the leopard, they failed to see it.’
Leopards are some of the most secretive and elusive of the large carnivores, capable of killing prey bigger than themselves.
Cunning hunters, leopards’ prey ranges from fish, birds and mammals such as baboons, warthogs.
The smallest of the big four predator cats, lions and hyenas have been known to steal a leopard’s kill.
To conserve their prey, leopards often store their larger kills in trees where they can feed on them in relative safety.
source: dailymail
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