Lila (the leopard) stashes her kill

 

 

My camera registers the time that each photo is taken.

It was 6.30 pm when I took the immediately-preceding post’s final image; Lila had then just ceased “snacking” and was sitting still.

Directly in front of Lila, probably still warm, also motionless, was her kill.

It was still 6.30 pm when Lila had completed the demanding task depicted in the sequence which begins with the featured image, then continues with the next three photos.

Almost certainly, I will never witness a more prodigious physical feat.

From “red hartebeest calf carcass, stationary, flat on the ground” to “carcass securely stashed in the tree’s crown” took Lila circa thirty seconds to achieve.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After checking that her prize was securely stashed, and enjoying a few minutes’ rest, Lila enjoyed a little more very fresh venison.

 

 

 

 

 

 

At 6.40 pm Lila had eaten her fill and was almost ready to return to earth.

 

 

 

 

 

Unsurprisingly,  the now-unencumbered Lila came down the tree even more rapidly and sure-footedly than she had climbed it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For the next several minutes Lila was almost-relaxed, sitting beside a termite mound near the tree’s base.

 

 

 

 

 

Presumably, Lila wanted to be sure that no scavengers had spotted her prize.

 

 

 

 

A future, “morning after” post will provide an illustrated answer – and an audible one – to the question asked in the caption to the image above.

At 6.49 pm we vacated the scene – one which only our little group had witnessed.

Throughout, Lila’s behaviour suggested that our presence had not troubled her.