On safari in Kruger, shortly before dinner, we'd been observing this male leopard and a female across the dry riverbed. Dinner was called. We were all seated in the dining room when a hubbub happened. Staff was coming in, making sure all the guests were accounted for, closing up the walls.

My guide, Steve, was getting our drinks at the bar when this happened. Everyone was safe. Steve and his associate were the only ones out in the area, and he captured this footage. It was terribly exciting!

source: https://www.facebook.com/bbctwo/posts/those-eyes-the-black-panthers-emerald-green-eyes-are-incredibly-strong-at-night-/252769093768714/

Credit: Deon Kelbrick.

Friday night in Limpopo, South Africa, we found a leopard resting among the rocks.

Before anyone loses their leopard loving minds about the red light: this is the responsible way to view wildlife at night. Our spotlight was red on purpose.

Most nocturnal animals are far less sensitive to red light than to white light. A bright white spotlight can dazzle an animal and wreck its night vision for a while. It can also leave prey exposed to predators, or put a predator off its hunt. Red light lets us see them while they carry on as if we weren't there.

Seeing predators in the bush after dark is an enormous thrill!

This is a legendary fight between Mufufunyane and Tyson. Mufufunyane was the resident male and Tyson was the new kid on the block. Mufufunyane was smaller than Tyson but had the experience. After a long fight Mufufunyane emerged victorious. Tyson lost an eye in this fight.

Credit: Indian Wildography.

In this photo it's clear that the cougar skull belonged to an adult male. The sagittal crest is developed and the rostrum is as wide as the leopard's.

The leopard skull originates from Botswana. The cougar's one from Utah.

Is this correct? Are all of these species still in the wild? It’s been a while since I’ve done a deep dive on big cats….I’ve always been in love with cats/big cats so I researched the difference in markings with leopards and jaguars. I couldn’t remember for sure which markings were which or better yet which one has the little spots inside the Rosette’s. I figured it out it’s the jaguars. I’m ashamed that I’ve forgot a lot of my big cat knowledge but I’m sure it’ll come back to me as I keep relearning.
Also….maybe it’s editing maybe it’s just google images but is it a thing where leopards tend to have much larger eyes ? A lot of the photos I see of leopards on google images have these beautiful but distinctly large eyes…..I tried to find photos of jags that had the same type of large eyes and couldn’t find any