In Botswana's wild Okavango Delta, leopards love to feast on large ungulates, such as antelope and zebra.
The Delta is usually home to a rich array of flora and fauna, attracting huge populations of elephants, hippopotamuses, crocodiles, buffalo and antelope from across the region. The abundance of prey makes it a prime location for Africa’s predatory big cats.
However, as this BBC Earth footage reveals, sometimes food grows scarce. As documented in the BBC's Big Cats 24/7, from which the filming is taken, there's competition between species, and rising floodwaters can make hunting more challenging. It forces predators to take unusual risks, or try unexpected tactics.
Watch a leopard hunt vervet monkeys in the treetops
As one of the top carnivores in Botswana, the African leopard preys on ungulates, smaller mammals, birds and occasionally reptiles. However, their diet is dictated by what is available, and they do occasionally scavenge.
They are agile and adept climbers, but you don't often see them chasing monkeys in trees, as it requires fierce effort and much energy.
In this footage, Ladiba the leopard has stashed her cub and is desperate to find food to share with it. Large prey is scarce, so she turns her attention upwards where vervet monkeys frolic.
While large elephants browse they make enough noise for Ladiba to use as cover to get closer to the monkeys.
"Leopards will try and catch monkeys in trees, and if it's a single trees they stand a chance," says the cameraman who's capturing the unexpected action on film.
Ladiba shows off her full climbing ability as she jumps from branch to branch in the treetops, trying to catch a vervet monkey. She is around 12m to 15m above the ground. It's an exhausting process.
"It's chaos, absolute chaos. It's almost impossible for her to catch one," he observes. "She's going to extremes to have a go at anything she can."
Eventually, as the light begins to fade, she finally makes a catch on the floor.
Top image: Leopard on tree in the Masai Mara National Reserve, Kenya, Africa. Credit: Getty
