Unsatisfied Leopard Decides to Go After Entire Warthog Family

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Written by Hannah Crawford

Published: February 11, 2024

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Leopard with warthog piglet in her mouth
© Cheryl Jayaratne/Shutterstock.com

Have you ever met a greedy child on Halloween? The ones who aren’t satisfied with one candy for their bucket and keep asking for more. Well, this leopard in the video above is a little bit like a greedy child when he’s not content with the one warthog he has. He wants the entire litter. 

Hungry Leopard Hunts for Food

The YouTube video at the top of this blog post was released a month ago and has already received half a million views. The Latest Sightings YouTube page shared this video of a hungry leopard mid-hunt on its platform. This channel shares up-to-date footage of animals in Africa of animals such as lions, honey badgers, elephants, cubs, hippos, and more. 

Warthog Family Tries to Escape Leopard

As the video starts, we see a leopard hunting down a warthog. He has just scooped it up for the final kill. Warthogs are naturally skittish creatures. So, it begs the question, how was this leopard able to get the drop on them so quickly?  According to BBC, “When (leopards) do hunt, they do so with stealth. Leopards are superbly camouflaged hunters that creep to within a few meters of their unsuspecting quarry…” 

Not only was this leopard able to get close enough to grab a warthog going by, we can even see behind the leopard, is another warthog flailing in pain. Not content with just the two that he has literally by his paws, at 55 seconds, we see the leopard charge for the warthog burrow as he sees yet another warthog come out. He is looking for a full feast for tonight’s dinner. 

How Big Are Warthog Litters? 

Warthog family in South Africa

Warthogs can charge up to 30 miles per hour.

©Samuel Holland/Shutterstock.com

Warthogs (Phacochoerus africanus) reach the age of sexual maturity between 18-24 months. At this point, they will have between one to eight babies, with a typical litter size of two to three being the most common. 

Warthogs live underground in small holes called burrows. Sometimes, these burrows are stolen from other animals, but regardless, they are a safe place for these mammals to live. They have protection against predators and Mother Nature. 

For the first 10 days of their lives, the piglets will stay in the burrow so as not to be susceptible to predatorial attacks. As young piglets, they are in danger of being hunted by animals such as lions, hyenas, crocodiles, and cheetahs. And as we can see from the video posted at the top, predators have no mercy for these little ones.


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About the Author

Hannah Crawford is a writer at A-Z Animals where she focuses on reptiles, mammals, and locations in Africa. Hannah has been researching and writing about animals and various countries for over eight years. She holds a Bachelors Degree in Communication\Performance Studies from Pensacola Christian College, which she earned in 2015. Hannah is a resident in Florida, and enjoys theatre, poetry, and growing her fish tank.

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