Cute leopard cub loves to play with his mother's tail

Finding a leopard in the wild while on a safari is always a special occasion. Finding a leopard mother and her cub in the wild is a priceless, once in a lifetime, experience. I recently had the rare opportunity to film the adorable moments of a playful leopard cub, totally amused by its mother’s tail.

The leopard is one of the most elusive animals in the African bush. This shy and solitary big cat is part of the so called Big five animals in Africa that also includes lion, buffalo, rhino and elephant. The leopard is by far the most difficult to find and see. The leopard relies on its camouflage and stealth to bring down prey that can range from mice to large antelope species. It was during a recent safari in the Kruger National Park that we were lucky enough to come across a female leopard, lying alone in the sand of a dry riverbed. We were absolutely ecstatic with our find. We all whipped out our cameras and started filming and taking pictures. It was not long before we were absolutely exhilarated by the fact that the female leopard had the most adorable cub. Out of nowhere, the cute leopard cub appeared. The appearance of the cub took us all by surprise and we couldn’t believe that we were actually sitting with two leopards in front of us.
Leopards are solitary predators and do not like to be seen.

If you are lucky enough to find a leopard in the wild, it will always be alone. Only under rare circumstances will you get to see more than one leopard together such as this one with the mother and her cub and when a male and female meet up to mate. The moments that followed between this leopard cub and its mother was filled with playfulness and motherly love. When the leopard cub appeared from the bush, it was immediately interested in its mother’s tail. It was so cute to watch how the cub’s hunting instincts was triggered by its mother’s moving tail. Every time the female leopard would move her tail, the cub would playfully paw at her tail while trying to grab it. This playful behaviour continued for a while until the cub became bored with its mother’s tail. The leopard cub decided it was time to snuggle up against its mother before falling asleep. We decided that we would not overstay our welcome and left the two leopards in peace.