Comments on: Leopard versus crocodile

By: Lazze

Lazze — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 15:58:21 +0000

Shane, according to our guide, it was the first time he had ever seen anything like that, so it seems to be a pretty rare sight. But it was spectacular – made me forget all about food poisoning for a moment

By: shane

shane — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 02:04:13 +0000

Lazze, I am so jealous. All we got to see, on the Serengeti and Masai Mara, when it comes to leopards were leopards hanging around in trees. Occasionally they’d flick their tale or shift positions. We did see a cheetah take down a gazelle and stacks of lions munching on wildebeests and zebras though. But leopards were the gold standard. Well, leopards and sand puppies.

By: Torbjörn Larsson, OM

Torbjörn Larsson, OM — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 23:37:19 +0000

They scare the crap out of me on a visceral level, so I’m fascinated by them. I mean, c’mon: they fit the definition of "monster".

That is relative. For example, sharks can be scarier on a visceral level. Dinosaurs were once much more viscerally (or effectively) monstrous, yet crocs are further away on a phylogenetic tree than your cutest easter egg chick which actually is a modern day dinosaur. Effectively monstrous in the crocs usual environment would be hippos, right? IIRC they kill ~ 100 times as many humans every year.

For some reason, I find it funny that someone posted what must be their lifes work, and the next post begins So leopards can kill crocs…

Especially considering that it was croc. (But he killed it all by himself.)

By: AJWM

AJWM — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 22:22:07 +0000

Mammals: 1
Reptiles: 0

Yay, go mammals!

By: Aleksei

Aleksei — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 20:41:11 +0000

Seems like the leopard’s much much bigger than the croc. is it a baby croc? how would a leopard that size fare against a full-grown croc?

By: changcho

changcho — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 20:28:16 +0000

Good set of pictures! The South American (Amazonian) version is the fact that jaguars can (in fact, routinely) catch alligators, but then again jaguars are more powerful than leopards (not as strong as lions, however).

To Quiet Desperation: your post started well but then it went very weird…just sayin’

By: Lazze

Lazze — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 18:52:20 +0000

Not to brag (well maybe a little ), but I witnessed a leopard take down a warthog on Serengeti 8 years ago. I have the pictures on Flickr http://www.flickr.com/photos/96775010@N00/sets/72157606333027300/ for those interested.
The leopard tried to drag the warthog up a tree in the last picture, but it failed – mostly due to the hyena pulling the other way…