Leopard Kills Baboon then takes care of baboon's baby

[Shaba Wangy]

http://www.spikedhumor.com/articles/...or_Within.html

From national geographic documentary.
Coolest thing I've ever seen.

[Nihil]

http://www.spikedhumor.com/articles/...or_Within.html

From national geographic documentary.
Coolest thing I've ever seen.

That's awesome Shaba, most amazing. I shall spirit this thread to the tender, nurturing embrace of the Aethenaeum so that our science-heads can peruse its wonder.

By the power vested in me, I move this thread.

[William the Bastard]

So no one here has played with their food before?

[invictus]

Nice interesting find. Wonder how long the baby will survive though. Since not sure how exactly the leopard would feed it. -leon

[Erik]

That's weird, especially since the leopard lost interest in it's kill.
But the baby was doomed from the moment it's mother was killed, because if it didn't freeze to death it would have staved to death.

[Slaxx Hatmen]

Wow thats amazing! Its rather sad that the baby finally died after awhile, I guess Leopard cubs have a thicker coat when their born, and baby Baboons are kept inside the mothers arms to stay warm.
Probably would've starved anyway. Baboons are Omnivores, which means they eat plants and sometimes meat. So under the Leopard's care it would've only gotten the meat part of its diet and hence wouldn't be getting its full, proper diet and starved out of lack of nutrients.

[Da Skinna]

Wait did the baby die at the end, I thought it just went to sleep...?

So no one here has played with their food before?

lol, that's horrible.

[Shaba Wangy]

Well, at the end of the movie it just went to sleep beside the leopard. I wonder if the documentary goes on to observe the baboon any longer. With all probability though, if the leopard left it unattended it would be killed by something else or it might find its way back to/ be found by its pack. Who knows....

[William the Bastard]

Leopards don't have fridges! So to keep the meat fresh you keep the animal alive a little longer. Actually was it Leopards who take their meat up a tree, leave it to rot then eat it once it has gone off? Or is that another big cat.

[Tacticalwithdrawal]

I've seen hunting dogs do this to an injured rabbit - it was screaming (as rabbits are want to do when hurt) and the dog 'mothered' it.

Nothing really to do with maternal instinct, more to do with the fact that the target animal does not fit the hunter's template for prey. In this case the leopard is confused as it doesn't know what the baby is, it doesn't fit its hunting profile. Plus the leopard knows it has a kill safely stashed so it is not in hunting mode.

Basically it has got itself a new toy and, like all cats, is very curious so is happy to play.

Leopards don't have fridges! So to keep the meat fresh you keep the animal alive a little longer. Actually was it Leopards who take their meat up a tree, leave it to rot then eat it once it has gone off? Or is that another big cat.

Well, leopards carry their kills up trees (keeps them away from lions and hyenas) but they eat it fresh(ish) - they don't leave it to rot.

[William the Bastard]

Well, leopards carry their kills up trees (keeps them away from lions and hyenas) but they eat it fresh(ish) - they don't leave it to rot.

I am sure I heard of a big cat that has a digestive system that is designed to eat off meat.:hmmm:

[Tacticalwithdrawal]

yeah, as I said above I've seen hunting dogs do something similar, and cats.

Basically the leopard is confused, it has just killed so it doesn't need to hunt (so is in 'passive' mode) and has found something interesting to play with.

It's not exactly being overly gentle with the baby whereas if you have ever seen them with their own cubs they are very gentle. Particularly when it almost falls out of the tree and the leopard is trying to pull it down - reminds me of a cat with a toy rather than a mother looking after her cub.

[William the Bastard]

reminds me of a cat with a toy rather than a mother looking after her cub.

Funny you say that as there are some women around here that appear to treat their babies as toys. Perhaps it's a mammal thing.

[Douchebag]

Baboons are dangerous. I say we kill them!

[Da Skinna]

Well hasn't it been seen that some mammals actually will try to mother an infant of a different species?

Could be either in this case, I mean, a young leopard with no parenting experience at all found something that it first may come to find as merely interesting but then realize its got a need towards the leopard it recognizes when either it was a kitten or seen another kitten being taken cared for.

Are small leopards and other big cats called kittens? Or is it cubs?

[Gwendylyn]

There have been cases of this happening elsewhere. My favorite one - http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/1905363.stm

Most felines play with their food. Some of them will take smaller animals with them and play with them for a couple days before they end up killing and eating them. I think that is more likely the case of the leopard and baboon. Documented cases of animals adopting other species (remember the baby hippo that adopted the 100 year old tortoise news story not too long ago) aren't exactly unheard of, but they are relatively rare.

[MaximiIian]

http://www.spikedhumor.com/articles/...or_Within.html
From national geographic documentary.
Coolest thing I've ever seen.

Awesome. Like a bluejay, but way cooler.

[Valentin the II]

The documantary gows on and he dies at night.
He wouldnt servive aniway.
It was a good documantary about this leopards life, very intresting.

[felicissimus]

Hmm it's not enough to say smth is interesting .

There is a teaching of the Orthodox Church that the animal world was created to just make the Earth nice before the time of the first people in paradise .At that time Adam and Eve were not sinners they didn't kill anything yet and lived from the fruits of the magnificent garden having everything in abundance..Since there was not any killing,I suppose if such time ever existed,the animals should have lived together undisturbing one another being all fed on fruits,which the Eden could have produced enough and better than nowdays' for all .
Later of the occuring of evil in the world perhaps some animals became carnivorous ,while some retained the first disposition to nowadays.

Could it be that in cases like this some inborn memory of the first animals past and originality reoccurs and the animals remembering or turning to their inborn sight,first existance instinct reject the killing and carnivarism for a moment ?!

[chris_uk_83]

I doubt it, considering that's based on a fictional religious teaching meant more as an analogy than a historical fact, and that we're in a science forum.