Impressive video from the BBC. This is the first of BBC earth’s ‘Mammals’ series which shows footage of a Leopard hunting Baboons at night for the first time.
A large female leopard shows off the first episode of the BBC’s ‘Mammals’. The powerful mammal with excellent vision even in deep darkness prepares to pounce on a group of baboons resting on 20-meter-high trees.
The BBC’s modern night vision cameras illustrate the leopard’s amazing ability to adapt its vision to the dark in order to catch its prey.
Leopards have a special reflective layer behind the retina called the ‘tapetum’ which gives them the advantage over other jungle animals of having excellent vision even in low light conditions.
On the contrary, her potential victims, the baboons, have very poor night vision and so as they rest in the trees they are naturally unable to see their astute assailant, the leopard, approaching them menacingly.
Baboons balance the disadvantage of poor night vision with excellent hearing. This is how the baboons panic when they hear the leopard. Unfortunately, in the midst of the threat a mother baboon and her baby seem to make the wrong move and become trapped on the edge of a tree with the leopard charging at them.