Seemingly unaware of the beast towering over it,
the tiny rodent grabbed at scraps of meat thrown
into the African Leopard's enclosure.
But instead of pouncing on the tiny intruder,
the 12-year-old leopard Sheena kept her distance.
After a few minutes she tried to nudge the mouse
away with her nose, but the determined little guy
kept chewing away until he was full.
The extraordinary scene was captured by photo-
graphy student Casey Gutteridge at the Santago
Rare Leopard Project in
The 19-year-old was astounded by the mouse's
behavior.
He said had no idea where the mouse came from.
He just appeared after the keeper had dropped in
the meat for the leopard. Taking no notice of the
leopard, the mouse went straight over to the meat
and started eating.
Even when the leopard bent down and sniffed him,
the mouse just carried on eating like nothing had
happened. Project owner Jackie James added:
“It was so funny to see - Sheena batted the mouse
a couple of times to try to get it away from her food.
But the determined little thing took no notice and
just carried on.” The mouse continued to eat the
leopard's lunch and showed the leopard who was
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13 comments:
I loved this, it's the cutest thing I've ever seen :)
That is absolutely fascinating. I imagine the outcome would not have been as fortunate for the mouse if the leopard had not been well fed.The mouse's lack of fear is astounding.
Sort of like the lion and the lamb. So appropriate for the season of peace.
As Darlene said, fascinating!!!
Gotta love the mouse!
I wonder if holding his ground probably saved the mouse's life--if he ran the leopard would have instantly pounced.
How amazing - you would think the leopard, neiong a cat, would have had the mouse for dinner!
Not sure whether the mouse was brace, stupid or just hungry! Though if he lived in a sort of zoo then there would be plenty of food around!
Lovely story!
I guess it's all in the attitude. I think Sage is right.
What a great story and photos. I think we should all be a bit more like that mouse!
Think sage might be right. Had he run he would have gone from something of interest to prey.
Smart little dude.
Reminds e of a marvellous ad where a bull -dog and cat were sitting in front of a fire and a mouse entered and jumped up to apparently kiss the dog and then sat beside them.
I can't remember what the ad was for but it was delightful.
sage is so . .. ... sagacious!
I love these photos. Made my day.
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