Watch a Leopard Turn Into Houdini and Escape a Massive Python’s Death Grip

Written by Sharon Parry
Updated: October 22, 2023
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This is a fascinating contest between two formidable animals with very different skill sets. Both are highly equipped to overcome other animals but what happens when they decide to take each other on? This rare footage was captured in October 2019 in the Mara Triangle in the southwestern part of the Maasai Mara National Reserve, Kenya. It was captured by a lady called Suzie Moll who was on a safari drive.

Watch the Nerve-Wracking Video Below

Leopard vs African Rock Python

In the video notes she describes how she first spotted the leopard who seemed to be checking out something in the grass. After watching for a while, they realized that it was a huge African rock python. At times, it seems as if the leopard is going to lose as the python wraps its powerful coils around the big cat. But the leopard shows amazing agility and manages to contort its body so that it can escape. Meanwhile, it is clawing at and biting the python. Eventually, the python had simply sustained too many puncture wounds (especially around the head) to survive. The leopard had not escaped unscathed, however, and limps away from the scene.

leopard

Leopards have sharp teeth and claws and are amazingly agile

©iStock.com/lightstock

Leopards as Hunters

Leopards are skilled hunters but are not necessarily at the top of the food chain. In Africa, lions and packs of hyenas can kill leopards so they need to know how to defend themselves as well as hunt. To locate the prey, they use their excellent sight, hearing, and whiskers. Once located, they stalk and then pounce on the prey, grabbing it or swiping at it with sharp claws. The killing method is a powerful bite at the throat. This crushes the windpipe and causes severe bleeding.  

Pythons as Hunters

African rock python curled up with head in air

An African rock python uses its Jacobson’s organ to detect nearby prey.

©Chris Graf/Shutterstock.com

African rock pythons are the largest snakes in Africa – some have weighed up to 200 pounds but most are around 100 pounds. Their sheer size and strength are what make them great hunters. They detect that prey is nearby using their Jacobson’s organ which is located behind their nasal cavity – by flicking out their tongue they can collect chemical signals from the air. The pits along their mouth also detect the heat given off by warm-blooded animals.

They wait until the prey is close enough and then strike, grabbing the animal with its teeth to hold it still and then wrapping its coils around. This suffocates the animal so that it dies from heart failure. Only this leopard would not keep still long enough to allow that to happen!

Is It Normal For a Cougar to Take On a Rock Python?

Leopards are opportunistic predators, feeding on snakes as well as hares, birds, warthogs, and small reptiles.

Leopards are known to be opportunistic predators and will attack snakes if they are in need of sustenance. In general, leopards prey on animals like hares, birds, warthogs, and smaller reptiles like lizards, but snakes are definitely on their list of food, even large snakes like African rock pythons.

Snakes are not capable of moving very quickly, so tend to stand their ground rather than retreat. This makes them easy prey for a persistent leopard if they are not venomous. Of course, a large python, if given the chance, can wrap its body around a leopard and squeeze it to death. It appears in the video that the python was somewhat successful in maneuvering to the point of beginning to constrict the leopard. Fortunately, the leopard escaped.

The photo featured at the top of this post is © Alta Oosthuizen/Shutterstock.com


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About the Author

Dr Sharon Parry is a writer at A-Z animals where her primary focus is on dogs, animal behavior, and research. Sharon holds a PhD from Leeds University, UK which she earned in 1998 and has been working as a science writer for the last 15 years. A resident of Wales, UK, Sharon loves taking care of her spaniel named Dexter and hiking around coastlines and mountains.

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