An unfortunate Leopard was recently caught between the rock and a hard place in Serengeti, fleeing from an angry Jumbo only to fall in the midst of a Lion Pride which tore the panther to shreds.
Tour and Driver guides that were making rounds in the Serengeti National Park over the weekend witnessed the dramatic episode and one of them managed to post a picture of it.
The first to break the news was Aafeez Jivraj of the Tanzania for Wildlife and later on Adam Charles of Shemeji Safaris posted the photo of the Leopard on the tree with lions, shortly before the attack.
The other picture, according to Tanzania for Wildlife, came from Dancing Zebras Safaris.
Drama in Serengeti
At the moment, many tourists are focused on the Wildebeests Migration in Serengeti, such that other wildlife events pass them by, including the Elephant chasing Leopard episode.
It is yet to be known what exactly the Leopard to did to evoke the rage of the giant elephant.
All the same, the irked Jumbo reportedly started to chase the panther in trumpeting fury, leaving clouds of dust in the wake of the jungle pursuit.
The Elephant Chasing Leopard scenario could have been similar to this one
Some suspects that maybe the Panther tried to attack the Jumbo’s calf.
Large as it may look, an elephant can really pick up speed. The angrier it gets the faster it runs.
The Leopard, seeing that it may not be able to outrun the giant Jumbo, decided to escape from the ground by climbing onto a tree for cover.
Except little did the wild cat know, that a pride of lions was relaxing on the same tree branches.
It seems the other Panthera cats did not take it kindly that the spotted one should invade their abode without knocking.
So the lions started attacking the already scared leopard.
Eventually the Leopard fell back onto the ground, this time in form of a lifeless body.
Later, a Lioness is seen making a meal out of the fellow panther.
How fast can an Elephant run?
The highest calculated speed of an elephant, on unofficial record is 40 Kilometers per Hour.
But experts say the Jumbo normally attains the swiftness of 25 Kilometers per Hour.
Still, that’s pretty impressive, considering the biggest elephants can weigh up to 6.5 tons.
All the same, the actual top speed that elephants can attain remains disputed, due to the fact that there haven’t been official studies dedicated to measure how fast an elephant can exactly run.
How Fast can a Leopard Run?
It being reported that African Leopards can reach the top speed of 60 Kilometers per hour.
Even when they occassionally get to 70 Kilometers per hour, Leopards are significantly slower than other cats such as cheetahs and lions.
But still, a leopard should be much speedier than any fast Elephant, yet the Serengeti victim, for some reason decided to take shelter onto tree branches where again it got doomed.