- A leopard tried to ambush a troop of baboons, and paid the price for it.
- Videos show the baboons, led by a hero monkey, giving no quarter to the big cat, though it escaped.
- At least two angles of the tussle were shot by safari visitors and published earlier this month.
Footage of a leopard getting overwhelmed by an angry troop of baboons is making its rounds on the internet.
The video, published on August 12 by the YouTube channel Latest Sightings, shows the leopard stalking a troop of baboons on a road in South Africa's Kruger National Park.
All is quiet as the monkeys lounge about, strolling down the road. A caravan of cars slows next to them.
Then the big cat makes its move and dashes onto the path. The baboons scatter.
But out comes an absolute unit of a male baboon, who intercepts the leopard. Hero monkey looks like he's done this before, though he gets pounced on and is brought down.
Lucky for him, his buddies are hot on his heels, and they dog-pile the would-be predator until it releases their friend.
Screeching, all the monkeys pile on for a scratch and a bite. Within seconds, the leopard makes a run for it, with the baboons in pursuit.
"Given the troop's size, I thought to myself, there's no way this leopard will be brave enough!" Ricky da Fonseca, an accountant visiting the park, told Latest Sightings. "But he surprised me."
He said the baboons "eased off" eventually, and the leopard was able to escape. "Surely his ego was more hurt than his body," he added, per the channel.
Another safari visitor, piano professor Merve Mersinligil, captured the tussle from another angle.
"The female baboons, protective, ran back to guard their young while the male baboons went full-on attack mode," Mersinligil told Latest Sightings. "The charge was led by what looked like the dominant male. He jumped the leopard almost like a rugby tackle, biting, hitting, and shouting like there was no tomorrow."
