After an angry elephant chases Leopard away, the leopard is made to hide in a tree.

  • South Africa’s leopard was made to flee by an elephant after it was attacked.
  • Kevin Dooley (60) captured the majestic elephant reaching out for the leopard in Madikwe Game Reserve
  • The elephant reached for the tree branches to scare the big cat, but he stayed high above the ground.

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After an elephant chased the predator away, a South African predator found refuge at the tree’s top in desperate attempt to escape becoming prey.

Kevin Dooley (61) captured the leopard jumping into a tree as a way to avoid the aggressive elephant.

Dooley from Albuquerque (New Mexico) took these striking photos at Madikwe Game Reserve, as the bull elephant moved towards the big cat.

Images showed an elephant reaching up to the branches of the trees with its trunk, as the leopard panicked sought refuge.

A leopard was forced to hide at the top of a tall tree in South Africa in an attempt to stay safe after being targeted by a bull elephant

The big cat sat in one of the tree's tallest branches to try and stay out of reach

After being attacked by bull elephants, a leopard in South Africa was forced to flee to the safety of its tallest tree.

The elephant was spotted walking all around the tall tree at Madikwe Game Reserve, in South Africa, raising its trunk up towards the hiding leopard

This elephant was observed walking along the Madikwe Game Reserve’s tall trees, South Africa. He raised his trunk in the direction of the leopard.

The bull elephant even tried blowing dirt out of its trunk in the direction of the leopard to try and scare it away - though the big cat refused to come down from the tree

Bull elephant attempted to scare leopard by blowing dirt off its trunk, but the big cat didn’t want to go down.

Refusing to move, the leopard stayed on high alert on its perch at the top of the tree as the bull elephant stalked it at the base

The bull elephant swooped at the base, but the leopard refused to move and remained perched high at the tree’s top.

Kevin said, “The bull elephant smelled a leopard from a mile away.” He tried to chase the leopard away from the tree, but it held firm.

“I watched for about an hour or an hour and a quarter.

“Finding leopards out in the wild is difficult. But, it’s worth experiencing an elephant-leopard interaction. It was amazing to see.

Wild elephants can attack big predators like lions and leopards.

The elephant tried all manner of ways to reach the leopard atop the tree, including grabbing the base with its trunk

To reach the leopard at the top of the tree, the elephant used a variety of methods including its trunk to grab the base.

With the big cat having leapt up to relative safety in the tree, the elephant continued to circle round the base, waiting for an opportunity to scare the predator away

The elephant wasn't afraid to try and wait the leopard out

The big cat leapt into safety from the tree. After that, the elephant continued its circle around the base in wait for an opportunity to scare him away.

Although they may not be chasing animals to trees all the time, elephants often trumpet their alarms in an attempt to scare predators away.

Low rumbles are used to communicate between herds as they move through the Savannah. This includes alerting others of potential dangers.

Due to their protection group mentality and other elephants using aggressive body language or charging to stop would-be attackers, individual predatory animals like leopards and lions are unlikely to be able to defeat even the most small of adult elephants. 

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