Friday, April 25, 2014

10-month-old leopard cub fascinated by GoPro camera

Curiosity almost killed the camera:

  • Roan Ravenhill, 26, is a ranger at MalaMala Game Reserve in South Africa
  • He mounted a GoPro camera on a wooden stand and waited for animals
  • Camera survived leaving behind beautiful footage of the pair
By Tara Brady
They say curiosity killed the cat but in this case the cat's curiosity almost killed the camera. Roan Ravenhill, 26, a ranger at the MalaMala Game Reserve in South Africa, mounted a GoPro on a wooden stand and waited for the leopard and her 10-month-old cub to come and investigate. Despite having the leopards' full attention, the camera survived intact leaving behind beautiful footage of the pair playing and exploring. 

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A leopard and her 10-month-old cub had fun playing with a GoPro camera left in a South African game reserve
A leopard and her 10-month-old cub had fun playing with a GoPro camera left in a South African game reserve


'I was about 60 metres behind watching the animals walk towards the camera,' said Mr Ravenhill. 'I felt amazed, the female marked the camera, like if it belonged to her, by rubbing up and down on it and the interaction with the cub was amazing, the camera did not disturb them at all.'  


Roan Ravenhill mounted a GoPro on a wooden stand and waited for the leopard and her 10-month-old cub
Roan Ravenhill mounted a GoPro on a wooden stand and waited for the leopard and her 10-month-old cub


The camera survived intact leaving behind beautiful footage of the
pair playing and exploring
The camera survived intact leaving behind beautiful footage of the pair playing and exploring


A curious leopard cub toys with Ranger Roan Ravenhill's GoPro camera in MalaMala Game Reserve
A curious leopard cub toys with Ranger Roan Ravenhill's GoPro camera in MalaMala Game Reserve


The leopard and her cub play around with the camera which was left in the game reserve by ranger Roan Ravenhill
The leopard and her cub play around with the camera which was left in the game reserve by ranger Roan Ravenhill


Mr Ravenhill, who lives in Hoedspruit, Limpopo province, in the north east of the country, has worked as a ranger at the MalaMala Game Reserve since 2011. 

He added: 'I was not alone, I had clients on Safari with me. The leopards had no reaction to the GoPro - their only reaction was curiosity. Eventually they got bored and moved on - but I let them walk away about 150 meters before I went to collect the camera.'


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