Incredible footage of leopard behaviour during impala kill - Sabi Sand Game Reserve, South Africa

Amazing footage of leopard catching, playing with and then killing impala in the Sabi Sand Game Reserve in South Africa The Sabi Sand Private Game Reserve shares a 50km unfenced border with the Kruger National Park this private reserve is second to none in terms of wildlife encounters. Due to the high degree of habituation the reserve offers outstanding photographic opportunities, particularly of the elusive leopard. The valuable water source supplied by the Sabie and Sand rivers ensure that this diverse land sustains one of the highest concentrations of animal species to be found anywhere in Africa.

First off ... this was some incredible footage so THANKS for positing it. Never saw anything like it before. Secondly - every species of cat that I'm aware of has this same trait in them. They seem to find some kind of pleasure in taunting their prey before taking their life away from them. I'll never get those people disliking videos such as this just because they don't like to see how a leopard behaves in nature. Thanks for sharing this footage. Poor impala.

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Mesmerizing. The leopard seems to be in a mode of being just like an ordinary cat that sometimes toys with a mouse without killing it. Is there some kind of curiosity impulse at play and a mystical bond formed with a baby animal of another species? Is it a female leopard rather than a male? Eventually the baby will die from injuries sustained while being handled like this over time, despite as gently and 'leopardly' possible. 

We have a cat. The cat sometimes “hunts” bugs, moths, beetles. And the resemblance in the behavior of our cat and this leopard is truly uncanny! They do the same things: periodically tap the prey with the paw, let go and then catch, hold it by the paw and look around as if to make sure no one is going to take it from them, put the prey in the mouth and then let it go, except our cat fits the bugs in the mouth completely unlike the leopard. Clearly the behavior is “programmed “ in their genes.