Who wins in the showdown of leopard vs porcupine?
There are some animals you just shouldn't mess with and the porcupine is one of them. Their sharp quills are painful and difficult to remove. If left stuck in a predator's body for some time, they could lead to infection and even death. That means any animal wanting to eat a porcupine is taking a risk.
Still, the leopard in this video from South Africa's Kruger National Park is perhaps the embodiment of the phrase "curiosity killed the cat." The leopard tries repeatedly to get an angle on this South African porcupine, but the large rodent is having none of that.
It leads to a long standoff between the young leopard and the porcupine that's quite entertaining to watch. Will the big cat prevail? Or will the porcupine's natural defenses save the day? Watch this short video to find out.
As we already noted, this leopard looks young and this may be the first time he's ever encountered a porcupine. Fortunately for the big cat, he figures out this is a prickly situation and manages to avoid the sharp spines. At the same time, he just cannot get an angle that allows him to make a meal of this porcupine. Eventually, it seems the big cat just gets frustrated and gives up.
He may have better luck trying to bring down an impala, zebra, warthog or antelope. This was yet another iconic sighting from this South African National Park. Kruger Sightings has quickly become one of our favorite YouTube channels for the all the cool sightings of cheetahs, hyenas, rhinos, and more that are posted there.
This park has since earned a place on our bucket list of dream destinations because tourists regularly get to witness scenes of nature like this every day in the park. We're sure seeing it in person beats watching it on the Discovery Channel!
For more outdoor content from Travis Smola, be sure to follow him on Twitter and check out his Geocaching and Outdoors with Travis YouTube channels.
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