The images of the attack were captured in the Mara National Park in Kenya. The leopard flies towards the antelope and then uses its sharp claws to scratch and pull the completely helpless prey. The outcome of the battle was not too surprising.
Photographer Jeffrey Wu, 52, from Toronto, Canada, the owner of the photos, said that the mother leopard only needs to take 3 steps within two seconds to capture the prey to bring back to feed the young.
Jeffrey Wu was also quite surprised because this animal usually hunts at night.
“I have known it since 4 years ago. This is the most beautiful female leopard in this area. Currently, it has given birth to 2 cubs. One 15 months old and one 4 months old. Perhaps because she had to raise a small child, her mother had to go find more bait during the day. After finding the bait, the mother leopard returned to the cub about 3m away in a bush. It hangs its bait on a tree to avoid being robbed by other species and calls its children out for dinner. Before that, the mother leopard also hunted another prey but failed,” Jeffrey said.
Looking back at his photos, Mr. Jeffrey is quite surprised and very proud. According to him, cheetahs often feed at night, so capturing its impressive prey attack during the day is not easy.
According to researchers, cheetahs, especially cheetahs, are said to have the fastest speeds on land (up to about 100km/h) and perfect hunting skills. Meanwhile, the fastest antelope species is only 80km/h. Compared with antelope, leopard’s muscles are about 20% stronger, acceleration is 37% better.