Savuti Leopard Catching a Catfish

Filmed by Marco and Manuel Ansón

Many people go fishing for different reasons. Some purely for leisure while for others, it is something they do to make a living. Fishing is also common in animals such as bears, seals, eagles and dolphins. A leopard has fantastic hunting skills and they include fishing, which is rarely seen in the wild.

Marco Ansón travelled all the way from Spain to Botswana’s Chobe National Park for a holiday. Marco was aware that there were fishing leopards in Africa, but had never seen one in action. “We knew about the unique Savuti fishing leopards, so we looking for them,” says Marco. He was hoping to see one while he was on holiday and as luck would have it, he did.

“We were in the Savuti region of the Chobe National Park in Botswana during the winter months when the Savuti Channel had been reduced to a series of small pools. We spotted a leopard close to a pool in the dry Channel.” Marco was very happy to see the leopard, but what happened next was something he would remember forever. “The animal walked to the water very slowly and stared near the muddy water,” he adds. The leopard had spotted a catfish in the water. Marco explains how the leopard entered the water “very slowly”, with its eyes focused on the catfish. “Suddenly the leopard dived into the dark water. After catching the catfish in its mouth, the Savuti leopard emerged coated in dark mud.” Marco compares the leopard to a black panther because it was covered in mud after going fishing. “The cat came close to our vehicle to rest in the shade to eat her catfish trophy,” he says.

Marco was ecstatic and could not believe that he had just saw the Savuti fishing leopard, in action. “Everything happened very fast. I could not believe what I was watching. This was an amazing and happy moment,” he adds.

Part of the 29-year-old’s holiday included an excursion he was on for his PhD, which focuses on prehistoric big mammals, anatomical and life appearance reconstruction. He is a wildlife artist and paleontologist. Marco witnessed this sighting with his father and mentor Professor Mauricio Anton, a well-known paleoartist. As a paleoartist, the professor reconstructs extinct animal life through drawings. He also produced a series called Drawing the big cats which Marco was part of.

The closest sighting Marco has ever had of fishing leopards was on television when a documentary was done on them. He never thought that one day he would get an opportunity to see them in action. “This could be the greatest show I´ve ever seen in the field.”

Видео Savuti Leopard Catching a Catfish канала GS Features