Durban - What happens when a member of the weasel family goes up against three of the world's fastest and one of the most ferocious land animals?
Apparently, the weasel family wins.
Field guide Dan Fiser and business consultant Paola Murguia recently witnessed an unfair match between three leopards and a honey badger at the Kruger National Park, in the &Beyond Kirkman's Kamp area.
Despite being outnumbered and outsized, the honey badger, which also has an suppressed automatic assault rifle named after it, proved to be a tough opponent for the big cats.
At one point, the badger was on its back while two of the three leopards bit into it but still did not give up.
After realising the honey badger was not a pushover, the mother leopard and her two younger cubs decided to leave the fight.
Camera shutters were heard snapping away in the hands of tourists who got to witness nature in its purest form.
"We were parked with a mother leopard and her two cubs, sitting on the Sand River bank. We followed them as they moved upstream. The two cubs walked into the reeds and we heard a loud commotion which the mother reacted to. Then all three appeared, wrestling with a honey badger,“ Fiser said.
“The honey badger was fighting back, instead of trying to run away, actually turning the tables at times.
“Our initial reaction was that they had caught something, but we didn’t know what. We were shocked when we realised it was a honey badger because they are well known for being fearless and tough animals.
“The three leopards took turns trying to take the honey badger down - an unfair battle one would think. The sighting ended with the honey badger trotting off as though nothing had happened,” Murguia added.
IOL
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