Leopard (_Panthera pardus_) with a newly captured Thompson’s gazelle

Abstract

A female leopard a few seconds after stalking and killing a lone Thompson’s gazelle near a kopje in Serengeti National Park. It is very rare to be able to observe an entire hunt by any predator, and particularly so for leopards, who most commonly hunt nocturnally and are reclusive. This female leopard was hunting to support a cub, who remained largely concealed in the kopje above the surrounding savannah. This hunt was observed in its entirety and took several minutes. The gazelle was not able to see the stalking leopard, even when it was very close, and the leopard only burst into rapid movement when it was perhaps 10 metres away from the gazelle. Interesting reasons to consider in terms of why the gazelle could not see the leopard, even very close by, relate to colour vision characteristics, neural processing of movement versus still vision, etc.