This photo is part of probably the most strange and in retrospect the most agonizing behavior that we have ever seen in a predator.
It had rained that morning and the safari had been very uneventful.
Suddenly our guide heard nagging and shouting from monkeys in the bush.
Quickly the cause of the theater was identified:
this leopard had authorized a vervet monkey baby, probably the mother had "lost" it in the excitement - vervet monkeys carry their offspring under their bellies, the babys cling to their mother.
Instead of killing the baby quickly, the cat played with him.
The cat occasionally let go of the little one, only to bully him again a short time later. She bit down just so hard that the monkey was not hurt. She took it in her mouth, as if she were transporting her own offspring.
The cat apparently used the tiny one as bait in the intention that one of the adults would become careless and start a "rescue operation".
We watched this spectacle for 30 minutes. None of the monkeys got cocky and we left the "crime scene", because we had to our bushflight.
The cat had not killed the monkey until then.Happiness is a way of travel, not a destination.
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