- An African wild cat was chased up a 45 foot tree by an approaching caracal
- The cat then decides to make the leap of faith and jump down from the tree
- The caracal follows shortly after, landing on its feet and continuing its pursuit
- Footage was shot by Warrick Davies in the Kgalagadi Transfontier Park
This incredible footage shows the moment an African wild cat launches itself 45 feet out of a tree after it was hunted.
In a move which definitely saw the cat lose one of its nine lives, the cat amazingly manages to land on its feet and make its escape after being forced up the tree by the approaching caracal wild cat.
The footage was captured by Warrick Davies in the Kgalagadi Transfontier Park – which is on the border between South Africa, Namibia and Botswana.
This incredible footage shows an amazing show down between two African cats: a Caracal and an African wildcat
The 30-year-old field guide said he was astounded that he managed to capture the moment the two cats fought.
Mr Davies said: ‘This has to be one of the most spectacular sightings I have ever had. It was only the second caracal I have ever seen in the wild and to see the interaction with another rare cat makes even more extraordinary.
‘My friend, Simon, and I had spotted the caracal lying up at the base of the large camel thorn, staring up into the branches.
‘We thought it was watching birds flying around in the tree, but on closer inspection we noticed there was an African wildcat perched high up in the branches.
The African wildcat (left) is forced to escape up a tree after the caracal (right) continues its pursuit
The African wildcat then makes a leap of faith from the tree and makes itself larger to try and spread its impact with the floor
‘The caracal made a move towards the wildcat and the wildcat performed a death-defying dive from the 15m high camel thorn, landed on all four paws on the ground, but the caracal was not far behind.
‘It took a few steps down the tree and then launched itself after the wildcat. The caracal landed in a cloud of dust and was immediately up and after the wildcat.
‘I lost view of the cats as they ran through the grass, thus ending the video, but moments later they reappeared with the caracal snatching and killing the wildcat.’
Amazingly the cat manages to land on its feet and runs away from the oncoming caracal – but is eventually caught by the larger animal