Leopard vs Bushpig

A friend of mine found a kudu cow carcass last year.

He saw that something has been feeding on her and decided to put a game camera up....

This is some of the photos he got....

I tought you guys might find it interesting...

Leopard female came in and started feeding still in day light



She came back a bit later that same evening





Then all of a sudden she disappeared...











They moved off and it was not very long after they left and she was back



and then she looked up and like a ghost she was gone...



and these guys came back...





So the question is.....

Did the bush pigs chased her of the carcass of the kudu cow to get to the meat or not???

What do you think?

I would say yes.
I am no expert on bushpigs.
Feral hogs are omniverous, they will pretty much eat anything that dosent eat them first. I have watched them feed on the carcass of a dead cow.

Great pictures Gerhard!
I am not very familiar with Bushpigs though I know that other species of pigs are curious, always hungry and very brave. There is no doubt that they came in to feed on that carcass... I don't know that they chased off the Leopard though certainly weren't dissuaded by the smell of the Leopard... All pigs are amazing garbage disposals and will even eat bones...

Great captures! I have witnessed a group of four bushpigs try to chase a pride of five lionesses from a buffalo kill. They actually got to within one meter of a lioness and caused her enough concern to seek the help of the other lionesses to actually chase the pigs away! Bush pigs will frequently visit ground baits. When cornered, they are very deadly. Many a leopard have been injured by bushpigs and i have seen a fight which ended in a stand-off. The pig died a couple of days later (we found it) and the leopard could have well died also as she limped away and is yet to be sighted.

Originally Posted by Shallom

Great captures! I have witnessed a group of four bushpigs try to chase a pride of five lionesses from a buffalo kill. They actually got to within one meter of a lioness and caused her enough concern to seek the help of the other lionesses to actually chase the pigs away! Bush pigs will frequently visit ground baits. When cornered, they are very deadly. Many a leopard have been injured by bushpigs and i have seen a fight which ended in a stand-off. The pig died a couple of days later (we found it) and the leopard could have well died also as she limped away and is yet to be sighted.

Man that must have been some fight....

Shallom i expected that kind of behavior.

I watched a group of 20 pound piglets form a semi circle and stand down a big male coyote. I was realy surprised at the time.

Was a fight never to be forgotten, we missed most of it, but caught the last battle and the stand-off. We saw dust from a distance and that is what caught our attention and we moving closer, we never expected to see what we did - two bloodied warriors in a bowl of growl and squeel, raising a final dust screen before standing face to face and both backing of very slowly. The leopard turned and limped away first. Then the pig. He did not go far as we found him approx 200 meters from the scene two days later after getting the wiff of death. Prey also have a resilience and fury that many of us under estimate.

Shallom, once again you impress me with your amazing ability to make the scene come alive. What great words, "two bloodied warriors in a bowl of growl and squeel"! How do you come up with this stuff? Very entertaining!!!

As to the question posed by Gerhard, it's hard to say that the bushpigs scared her off, seems more likely to me based upon the times shown on the pictures themselves that the pigs were waiting in the wings for her to feed and when she left they moved in quickly, because then she came back to eat some more and they left only to return again... that's my theory and I'm stickin' to it! Is it just me or can you see her belly growing from one picture to the next? Great pictures Gerhard!

SC, i guess the combination of being a bushman that actually went to school has helped in my being able to express and describe a few things... Glad you are enjoying it. I don't come up with this stuff - just really fotunate to be able to witness and experience nature at its best and do my bit to share it with others : )

Your theory is very plausible and her belly is indeed growing with each feed. But we still cannot write-off the possibility of the leopard making way for the pigs either. But its more a case of both species being cautious knowing its not their own kill and being nervous about who the real owner might be.

Ownership in the bush, that is an interesting concept... I was wondering why she didn't just take that Kudu up a tree but I guess it could have been a moral decision as she may have been concerned about the consequences of stealing

Cool pics!