Animal behaviour can be strange and puzzling. A video posted on Twitter by Susanta Nanda, an Indian Forest Service officer demonstrates this as a tigress and leopard have an encounter with neither getting into a fight.
Video:
This face off between the tiger & leopard is bit unnatural.
What do you think as to why both backed up without attacking each other. Peaceful coexistence? pic.twitter.com/O7yTkkFYil— Susanta Nanda (@susantananda3) February 22, 2023
The tigress is seen watching the leopard intently from a distance making a bold charge all of a sudden yet they don’t attack each other. They face each other for a few seconds and then the tigress moves away. What makes the footage unusual is that tigers are known to attack leopards and kill them for food. Nanda describes the behaviour depicted in the footage as “unnatural”.
While many users wondered the reason for this behaviour, some suggested that the tigress may be wanting to avoid injury.