Leopard Takes Down Lechwe Antelope Twice His Size

In late September 2023 in Kwai Botswana we found this male leopard that had taken down a huge lechwe bull. He was growling and looking around and seemed quite unsure of what to do with his massive prize. A lechwe bull can weigh up to 130 kilograms, twice the weight of the leopard. The lechwe bull was too heavy to stash safely up a tree and also too large to hide away in thick bushes. After removing the stomach and internal organs he managed to drag the lechwe out into the open. He quickly realized though that the lechwe was still too heavy to move very far. After contemplating what to do for a while he dragged it back to the small bush where he had stashed it earlier. Lechwe are always found in marshy areas and floodplains and will often flee into knee-deep water to escape from predators. As we drove through the shallow channel to get closer to the sighting we realized just how exposed he actually was with his large prey. His chances of losing his prized lechwe to other predators like lions or hyenas was much higher with the kill stashed out in the open like this. As it started warming up he didn't want to leave his meal so why not use the shade of the safari vehicles to cool down. This young male is an extremely habituated leopard. The locals call him big boy. It seems to be a very fitting name now that we have seen his skill in catching large prey. After using the vehicles as shade for a while he decided to sneak off to some thicker bush leaving his kill exposed. We had to leave the sighting and were very eager to get back there first thing the next morning. As we had thought might happen we arrived the next morning and two lionesses had stolen his kill. With the lechwe carcass much lighter he was able to escape. One of the lionesses eventually dragged it off to some cover when it started warming up. The young male leopard had at least had a really good meal and had a full belly. You can imagine our surprise when five days later we found the same male leopard and he had taken down a large female kudu. We were amazed again at his skill and success rate in catching larger prey. The next day we went back to see if he had anything left of his kudu kill and this remarkable male leopard had another surprise waiting for us. He had finished the kudu during the night and with his huge full belly had taken down an impala and stashed it up an apple leaf tree. He looked rather uncomfortable up the tree with such a full belly so he decided to climb down and lie on the ground. He began getting quite irritated and vocalized his disapproval at the yellow-billed kites and vultures that were hovering around his impala. He decided to take the impala down from the tree where he could be more comfortable and watch it more closely. After lying down and digesting the contents of his oversized belly for most of the afternoon he eventually picked it up and dragged it off to thicker bush where he could feed in As we watched him drag off his third large kill within six days we are absolutely in awe of this powerful young male leopard with a bright future.