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Leopard Cub Licking His Lips, Sabi Sands, South Africa
This was a very rare moment captured in the Sabi Sands Game Reserve in South Africa. A mother leopard and her cub were finishing up their meal after an impala kill, and the little guy was clearly enjoying it quite a bit, licking his lips as he gnawed on a bone. After about half an hour of eating and inquisitively looking at me, the cub got up to explore the surrounding bush, and his mother lazily took off after him.
The African Leopard is a leopard subspecies occurring across most of sub-Saharan Africa. In 2008, the IUCN classified leopards as "Near Threatened", stating that they may soon qualify for the Vulnerable status due to habitat loss and fragmentation. They are becoming increasingly rare outside protected areas. The trend of the population is decreasing.
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