Photo: LtestSightings/YouTube
Watch: Hungry leopard gives ‘catfishing’ a completely different meaning [video]
On a late Thursday afternoon in the ever-exciting Kruger National Park, a group of friends witnessed a very spectacular sighting of a leopard catching barbel.
Photo: LtestSightings/YouTube
A leopard cacthing a barbel just gave a whole different meaning to the word ‘catfishing’.
Yes, a leopard recently catched a barbel from a small puddle. The footage was shared on the wildlife sighting app, Latest Sightings.
On a late Thursday afternoon in the ever-exciting Kruger National Park, Tayla McCurdy and a group of friends witnessed a very spectacular sighting of a leopard catching barbel. Tayla told Latest Sightings more about the event, saying:
“We were driving along the Mpongolo Loop (S56) when my friends and I spotted a male leopard hanging around a pool of water filled with barbel jumping around in the water. It seemed like this used to be a thriving waterhole that has since dried up to but only a puddle.
“This would have been mainly from the heat, since the Kruger has seen little rain since summer set in. We watched as the barbel splashed and moved about in the pool, in the little water there was to swim in.”
Tayla said that the leopard was nervous and disappeared below the embankment where they could no longer see him but waited nonetheless.
“After about 10 minutes the leopard eventually reappeared and stalked closer to the water. The writhing barbel were too much of a temptation and so the leopard slowly approached the puddle – planning the hunt. He hesitated for a while and then made his move. At first, it seemed like the barbel were slipping from his grasp as they viciously splashed – causing the leopard to dip his head almost completely into the muddy water. He finally grabbed a hold of his prize, then moved back below us out of sight.”
The next morning the groupw ent out for another drive in the direction of the dried-up waterhole and found the same leopard sitting upon an embankment in the distance.
“We knew it was the same leopard because it was covered in mud from head to tail, just as was the one that we saw the day before. He got up and walked over to where an enormous barbel was lying in the sand. We were not sure if this had been the same one that was caught the day before, or if this one was a fresh catch for the day. The leopard picked up the barbel and took it to the shade of a Nyala Berry Tree where it could finally feast on its meal.”
