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Headline: Leopard Fails At Hunting

Caption: PICTURE SHOWS: The leopard leaps out at a topi ...... You can't win all the time - and this hapless juvenile leopard was experiencing a day of failing at hunting. Wildlife photographer Paul Goldstein snapped the scene as a case of 'eyes bigger than belly' saw the young leopard fail to bring down both a topi and a zebra. (Note: 2 additional pics in set by Sarah Jeffery) Captured in January while guiding for Exodus Travels in Kenya's Masai Mara, Paul first observed the leopard positioned lying perfectly still in the rocks of a waterhole used by potential prey. At last launching out at a topi, he was shaken aside by the larger animal, before pouncing at a zebra, but missed and just avoided the zebra's kicking hooves. Wimbledon-based Paul explains: "In January, around mid-morning the Masai Mara is hot, not normally the time you would expect a leopard to be hunting. I was returning to camp with a group when we found this leopard. It was very hard to spot as it was hiding from a large bull buffalo. Once this huge ruminant had moved on he slipped into an ambush position above a small waterhole. Slowly as the temperature increased, some zebra and topi came tentatively to drink. The leopard was clearly visible in the granite but did not move a muscle and somehow the grazers did not see him. This is a young male leopard of about 20 months and had no business even contemplating taking on such large adversaries. "For a half hour we barely breathed, fingers on shutter releases, determined not to miss what would be a very brief denouement. Eventually when a large topi walked virtually on top of him he leapt at it, sinking his claws into its rump for a second before the 150 kilogram animal (three times the cat’s weight) shook him off. Amid the dust of retreat he then settled for a few seconds before trying his luck with a small bachelor herd of zebra stallions with a similarly unsuccessful result. "This was a mismatch but intensely exciting. The leopard then slunk off to the bushes with its tail firmly between its legs and slept for the rest of the day. It took me and everyone else much longer to calm down." Paul Goldstein was guiding from Kicheche Bush Camp (http://www.kicheche.com/our-camps/bush-camp/), one of a series of Eco camps he co-owns in Kenya and for Exodus Travels (https://www.exodus.co.uk/).

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