Quick Take
- A leopard's clever strategy for protecting its kill backfires in the most spectacular way possible. See the backfire →
- Why did this leopard drag its prey into a tree in the first place? The answer reveals a survival tactic most people don't know about. Watch the tree strategy →
- One lion stayed on the ground during this tree brawl, and that turned out to be the smartest move of all. See the lion's move →
- Leopards and cheetahs are both elite African predators, but their speed gap is far wider than most people expect. Compare their speeds →
Fights in the wild don’t always happen on the ground. Sometimes, they are so intense they continue up into trees. In the video above, you’ll see a fight break out high up in a tree.
Fierce Fight in a Tree
The above video takes us to Africa, where we see a carcass has been stashed in the tree. It is most likely that a leopard hunted down the kill and placed it up in the tree for safekeeping. The African Wildlife Report says, “The African leopard often drags its kills up in trees to keep them safe and avoid having them stolen by other predators.”
The lions apparently sniffed the fresh blood and moved in to steal it from the leopard. However, this leopard isn’t willing to give it up without a fight.
As the fight breaks out, we see the lion and leopard fighting so fiercely in the branches that the entire tree shakes, and the branch breaks off. Once the branch falls to the ground, the leopard takes off, surrendering its kill to the lions.
