Watch a Rare Video of a Leopard Playing With Its Food

This male leopard is eating a warthog it stalked and killed. IAt first, it appeared to be typical leopard behaviour, but then, witnesses were surprised to see the leopard use the warthog jaw bone …as what they described as a “tool” for opening up the carcass.

Luke Hunter, Chief Conservation Officer for Panthera, a global wild cat conservation organisation says that while the behaviour is unusual, it is not tool use. Hunter believes the leopard is excited about its food, and is using the bone as a toy. Leopards, cheetahs, and lions all use inanimate objects for play. But when it comes to eating a kill, Hunter says, “they just don’t need to employ tools.”