Nature: A Cow and A Leopard

This is an old real story from year 2002 which is going ‘viral’ again with a wrong location and time. Hence I thought to write about it. The original story can be read here, as reported by Times of India.

This happened at Antoli village in Vadodara district, Gujarat, around the year 2002. Every night, a leopard would enter the village from nearby maize fields. It would go to a specific location where a particular cow was tied. It would first watch the surrounding to make sure there was no threat. Then it would come near to the cow and both will play affectionately. The villagers would be able to witness this and sometimes the leopard would sooner if it noticed that the villagers were nearby. As part of their play, the leopard would put its one leg over the cow's head and makes a "purring" sound. Purring sound is made by many animal species. In cats, it is a sound of reassurance between mother cats and nursing kittens. Cats also make purr sound as a sign of contentment; for example, when being petted, becoming relaxed, or eating. In response to the leopard, the cow would also make a sound and lick the leopard affectionately. 

Here are some of their pictures taken together:

(Above) The Leopard arrives, watches the surrounding while the cow looks at it

(Above) The Leopard and the cow play together 

(Above) The cow would treat the leopard as its own calf 

Now the question would arise about why the cow and leopard developed such a friendship. The TOI article quotes Mr. HS Singh, Conservator of Forests, Vadodara, who said, “Sometimes animal behaviour can get modified. In this case, probably because the leopard which has passed the sub-adult stage, lives in a rural area and not strictly a wild environment.”

I searched for more articles and came across this one which described this event in great detail. It mentions that earlier, two leopards, one big and another its kid, were seen by the villagers who reported about them to the forest department. The forest department put a trap, captured the big leopard and released it in a nearby forest. This new leopard started coming to the village afterwards and it was perhaps the baby leopard who was now alone and missing its mother. Due to some strange reason, the young leopard developed a bond with that cow who started treating it like its own calf; and that explained their relationship. Although the article says that perhaps we shall never be able to know all details with 100% authenticity.

No matter what the actual reason was, I am sure that this special case of the cow and this leopard would warm your heart.

- Rahul Tiwary