Posted on 06/04/2009 6:38:52 AM PDT by rawhide
This mouse diced with death when it tucked into the lunch of a hungry leopard.
Seemingly unaware of the beast towering over it, the mischievous rodent grabbed at scraps of meat thrown into the African Leopard's enclosure.
But instead of pouncing on the the tiny intruder the 12-year-old leopard, called Sheena, appeared to be afraid of the daring mouse and kept her distance.
At one stage she tried to nudge the mouse away with her nose, but the determined little chap carried on chewing away until he was full.
The extraordinary scene was captured by photography student Casey Gutteridge at the Santago Rare Leopard Project in Hertfordshire.
The 19-year-old, from Potters Bar, Hertfordshire, who was photographing the leopard for a course project, was astounded by the mouse's behaviour.
He said: 'I have no idea where the mouse came from - he just appeared in the enclosure after the keeper had dropped in the meat for the leopard.
'He didn't take any notice of the leopard, just went straight over to the meat and started feeding himself.
'But the leopard was pretty surprised - she bent down and sniffed the mouse and flinched a bit like she was scared.
'In the meantime the mouse just carried on eating like nothing had happened.
'It was amazing, even the keeper who had thrown the meat into the enclosure was shocked - he said he'd never seen anything like it before.'
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.'
Sheena was brought in to the Santago Rare Leopard Project from a UK zoo when she was just four months old.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
Thatsa one HUNGRY mouse.
Awwwww. Our gerbils used to scare our St. Bernard. Go figger :)
Or a mouse with a depth perception problem?
That’s a DemonRAT! Always wanting to steal our lunch.
Being on a rich diet of the dole tends to make one less aggressive.
I was about to say...
The leopard is the once-feared, now-tamed GOP
And, the rat is the RATs.
Come on, GOP, show some friggin fang and pounce...for once.
Amazing. Thanks for sharing.
LOL. That what one of our gerbs did, bit the dog on the nose. Once was enough.
Mythbusters did a segment where they released a mouse in the path of walking elephants. While the elephants did not rear up in fear, they took notice of the mouse and gave it a wide path every time.
Just goes to show that being an alpha animal is born into alpha's. Apparently this mouse is a pure alpha and figures that it DESERVES to eat first. No matter who or what is around he figures that he should eat that meat.
So far the leopard hasn't said “no”.
The leopard seems amused. a new friend?
In the last pic the mouse seems to be getting a backrub
my dogs are afraid of the hamster.
Of course, they don't show the last pic where the leopard goes "gulp" and swallows the mouse and the gobbets of meat.
The definition of:
Courage
Audacity
Indifference
[take your pick]
Obviously a well feed leopard. Otherwise, the mouse would have been toast.
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