The Wild Dog kill

 

Whilst it can be shocking to see the instant a predator takes it's prey is always a special moment. Of all the large African predators  perhaps the most spectacular are Wild Dogs.

Their communal approach to hunting is really special to watch and to be able to follow a hunt as we did for a long time and over a number of kilometres was a real privilege.

The culmination was swift and brutal, and in a way I am glad I wasn't quick enough to catch the moment the Dogs caught the Impala and was only able to film the aftermath, but if you were to choose a way to go this would be it. From start to finish a matter of minutes.

Having followed the pack of Dogs along the route of their hunt we finally saw an Impala flushed from cover. racing from the pack in a series of leaps the antelope almost escaped. But Wild dogs don't have an 80% + success rate for nothing.

As the Impala leapt, perhaps two metres off the ground one Dog tripped its rear leg and a second jumped and caught it by the belly. Down it went and within seconds it was engulfed by the rest of the Dogs. Three minutes later hardly anything was left.