Don't Mess With Porcupines. Even If You're A Leopard

Mess with the porcupine, you’ll get the quills.

Two porcupines stood up to an apex predator, letting a leopard know in no uncertain terms that they would not be turned into cat food.

The footage from South Africa’s Kruger National Park, posted on YouTube by Kruger Sightings, shows the leopard stalking and then swiping at a porcupine, only to retreat after getting a taste of the quills.

But the big cat didn’t learn its lesson.

It then turned to a second porcupine, pouncing on it and kicking up a huge cloud of dust.

The porcupine emerged from the cloud unscathed. The leopard was left plucking out quills.

“This was the first time I have ever seen porcupines and what a way to see them,” Donovan Piketh, who filmed the encounter, told LatestSightings.com.

Piketh said the porcupines were unharmed. The leopard spent a few minutes removing all but one of the quills before disappearing into the bush.

“He was definitely the one that came off worse for wear that day,” Piketh was quoted as saying.

It’s not clear when the footage was recorded.

(h/t digg)