Don't play with your food: What happened when a leopard befriended a cute baby antelope? (Actually, you probably don't want to know)

By DAILY MAIL REPORTER

Fearless: The baby Steenbok wanders away from the leopard but the big cat doesn't take her eyes off her prey

It may look like one of nature's heartwarming interactions but the outcome sadly does not have a happy ending.
This at first apparently playful encounter between leopard and newborn steenbok (part of the antelope family) was captured by a safari guide in the Sabi Sand Game reserve, in South Africa.
The big cat seemed to want to make friends with the calf for 45 minutes and the small creature was so unafraid of the predator it even tried to suckle milk from it.
But then nature opened up its powerful claw and the leopard decided playing with the Bambi lookalike was probably not as much fun as eating it. In a flash, he killed the newborn, which had foolishly ventured out into the brush after being hidden in a nearby bush by its terrified mother, who was powerless to intervene.
Safari guide, Marius Croetzee, 30, from Durban, was travelling by Land Rover he and his clients witnessed nature at its most heart-wrenching from only six yards away.

The large leopard played with the calf for 45 minutes and the small creature was so unafraid of the predator it even tried to suckle milk from it

Marius said: 'I got a call over the radio that a female leopard were located close to the lodge and that she was busy stalking.
'The mother stashed the lamb in thick scrub while feeding nearby, when it was caught she ran away for her own safety.
'It is not uncommon for a leopard to make more than one kills if the opportunity presents itself.

The calf's terrified mother was powerless to intervene and stop the baby being killed and eaten

'Upon arriving at the scene I witnessed the leopard sitting with the steenbok in her paws. The lamb was new born and completely oblivious to the danger it was in.
'It had no fear, and at one stage even tried to suckle from the female leopard. This was a first for me in and in more than 12 years of safari guiding I have not seen it again
'People were absolutely amazed and felt sad, but they realised that this is nature in its rawest form.'

The leopard eventually got bored and killed the calf, which was only hours old

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The antelope with his own web-site (and a spider who is very much at home)

By Mail Foreign Service

You and me forever: The antelope - his face also covered in cobweb - appears quite happy with his new friend


It's nature's version of the Odd Couple.

This Impala antelope has become a home for a contented spider.

The insect appears to have settled in the web after it became caught between the antlers of the small antelope as it walked through a national park.

Photographer Frank Solomon captured the bizarre image while on safari


Home sweet home: The spider perches happily near the Impala's antler


He said: 'This is the first time I have ever seen something like this, and I have spent most of my life in the bush.

'For me this was better than seeing a herd of elephant or a leopard in a tree because it was a truly one-off moment.

'When the friend I was with pointed it out all I could see was the Impala. I thought my friend was joking but upon closer inspection I noticed the web.

'I feel it is definitely one for the record books and a sight I will never forget.'

He added: 'The Impala was with one other male and about 12 metres from our vehicle.

'There was no behaviour to indicate he was aware of the web.'

Mr Solomon took the photo of the Impala in Kruger National Park, South Africa, which is home to around 110,000 of the small antelope.

The Impala in the picture is believed to be around two years old.


source: dailymail

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Hello little antelope, would you like to play with us?

No claws for alarm: Astonishingly, these cheetahs, whose instinct is to hunt for food, decide to play with this baby impala


Hello little antelope, would you like to play with us?

Coming from three deadly cheetahs, it's the kind of invitation that's best refused - but amazingly, this impala escaped unscathed from its encounter.

Luckily for the youngster, it seems these three male cheetahs simply weren't hungry

That's because unlike other big cats, the cheetah hunts in the daytime, either in the early morning or late afternoon. The bursts of speed needed to catch their prey tire them out - meaning they need to rest after a kill.

And that seems to be the secret to the antelope's survival, as it's likely it fell into the cheetahs' clutches when they were already full - and tired out - from an earlier hunt.

Photographer Michel Denis-Huot, who captured these amazing pictures on safari in Kenya's Masai Mara in October last year, said he was astounded by what he saw.

'These three brothers have been living together since they left their mother at about 18 months old,' he said. 'On the morning we saw them, they seemed not to be hungry, walking quickly but stopping sometimes to play together.


Sticking your neck out: Oblivious to the danger, the impala appears to return the affection to the cheetahs


New found friends: The new-found friends part with a farewell lick


'At one point, they met a group of impala who ran away. But one youngster was not quick enough and the brothers caught it easily.'

These extraordinary scenes followed, as the cheetahs played with the young impala the way a domestic cat might play with a ball of string.


Sprint finish: Impala is off the menu as the youngster makes its exit


'They knocked it down, but then they lost interest,' said Michel. 'For more than 15 minutes, they remained with the young antelope without doing anything other than licking it or putting their paws on the impala's head.'

Even more extraordinarily, this story has a happy ending - after one tense moment when it looked as though one cheetah would bite the impala on the neck, the youngster ran away.

Let's hope it didn't tell all its friends how nice those big, scarylooking cheetahs really are when you get to know them.


source: dailymail

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