Young Mongoose Has Lucky Escape From Leopard
We aren’t quite sure which of these babies made the bigger mistake, the juvenile mongoose that ran straight in to the welcoming claws of a leopard or the apex predator who wasn’t able to take advantage of an easy meal. The footage was filmed by a group of tourists on safari in Djuma Private Game Reserve in South Africa and the stars of the clip is Tlalamba a young leopard and a pretty brave mongoose that was lucky to escape meeting an untimely death.
Setting up an ambush
If you check out the clip, it begins with Tlalamba preparing to ambush what is known as a business of mongooses (business is the collective noun for group of mongooses). The leopard is clearly inexperienced when it comes to the nuances of hunting mongooses and seems unaware that they are obviously aware of her because she doesn’t have enough foliage to hide in. Her ambush attempt was doomed from the get go.
The leopard has her own Facebook page
Despite being positioned awkwardly, a younger mongoose charges at the leopard from the tall grass. Tlalamba seems to have been completely caught off guard and makes a valiant attempt to sink her claws into the squirming mongoose who ultimately manages a swift escape. In a Facebook post, the organisers of the safari said whilst Tlalamba was unlucky this time, she does show promise of evolving into a skilled huntress just like her mother who is called Thandi. Tlalamba and her mum are both well known to the people who live in Djuma and both have their own FB pages filled with selfies.