The Leopard and the Mouse (Also in French)
Vince.
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The King of Beasts was smarter than you might think, plus he had manners; he
knew the little mouse had a small stomach, and couldn't eat much ... So he
would still have plenty!
A mouse stealing a leopard's Lunch.... Are you serious?
Seemingly unaware of the beast towering over it, the tiny rodent grabbed
at scraps of meat thrown into the African Leopard's enclosure. But instead
of pouncing on the tiny intruder, the 12-year-old leopard, Sheena, kept
her distance. After a few minutes she tried to nudge the mouse away with
her nose, but the determined little guy kept chewing away until he was full.
Copyright 2010 Casey@cpgphotos.com
The extraordinary scene was captured by photography student Casey
Gutteridge at the Santago Rare Leopard Project in Hertfordshire ,
England . The 19-year-old, photographing the leopard for a course project,
was astounded by the mouse's behavior.
He said he had no idea where the mouse came from. He just appeared after
the keeper had dropped in the meat for the leopard. Taking no notice of the
leopard, the mouse went straight over to the meat and started eating.
Even when the leopard bent down and sniffed him, the mouse just carried
on eating like nothing had happened. Even the keeper said he'd never
seen anything like it before.
Project owner Jackie James added: It was so funny to see - Sheena batted the
mouse a couple of times to try to get it away from her food. But the
determined little thing took no notice and just carried on.
The mouse continued to eat the leopard's lunch and showed the leopard who was
boss.
We can only assume that Casey received a grade of A on his project!
Have you ever seen anything like this? These images and the story that goes with them are fantastic.
Although, I think it's probably not a mouse. It looks like a Rat! So "Danger Rat" rather than Danger Mouse then.
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It's funny how things just seem to fit! Sheena the leopard is a Maasai Leopard (ring any bells?) Yep, you may have already guessed it, David has a a beautiful drawing of a Maasai Leopard . And here is the truly amazing thing: David's subject was in fact "Sheena"! Wow. So I guess I'd better include a jpeg of "Sheena" by David Dancey-Wood now.
Maasai Leopard By David Dancey-Wood , Copyright Hawkbill Fine Art
The Print is called "Maasai Leopard". It was a limited edition print of 495. Released in November 2004
Image size: 29.8cm x 25.cm
It was very popular and sold out quickly. They're now available only rarely. If you are interested in "Maasai Leopard" or any of David's beautiful prints please click the banner to our website.
www.Wildlife-Sketches.com is also available En Français as a PDF File
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Ok, so for our French speaking Visitors here is a translation prepared by Yvette Mésère Translation Services ymesere@hotmail.com
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En Français:
Une souris qui vole le déjeuner d’un léopard … Vous êtes sérieux ?
Categories: Big Cats, David's Drawings, News articles, Français, Wildlife Photography, Amazing Animals
Tags: Leopard La souris léopard Mouse Santago Rare Leopard Project Le Roi des Bêtes
Amazing article. Fascinating.Just when you think you've seen it all, along comes something like this. And the photos are awesome. The natural world is magical and never ceases to amaze.
The French touch is brilliant too, makes you feel intelligent, even if you don't understand it !
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The original of this fabulous portrait of a leopard was sold by public auction at Christie's in South Kensington a number of years ago.It had been donated by David in order to raise much needed funds for various wildlife conservation projects.
Stupidly, myself and a very close friend of mine thought we might buy it for ourselves, and that no one else would notice it, either in the beautiful Christie's auction catalogue or displayed in all it's understated nobility, hanging on the wall.( Fools)!
On the train journey up to Christie's from Portsmouth ( we always went up by train so we could have a good amount of alcohol )we discussed finances, how one drawing can possibly belong to two people and what our limit would be if we got involved in a bidding battle !
By the time the Massai Leopard came up for auction we were almost in a state of nervous breakdown. Having by now seen the original on the wall, nothing was going to prevent us from owning it, apart from suddenly departing the earth for good !
Anyhow, we bid it up to £1,500 and for a foolish second in time, we thought the auctioneer was actually going to drop the hammer.... no such luck, suddenly phone bids started to arrive, more people on the floor joined in and myself and my friend were left behind in the carnage. It eventually sold for about two and a half times the estimate and applause broke out on the fall of the hammer.
By now it must have been 9pm, so we left Christies, crossed Kensington High Street and went for a decent curry and good glass of Merlot !
The ups and downs of the art game. I wouldn't swop it for anything !
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