Camouflaged snow leopard hides in plain sight as it stalks its prey – but could you spot it in time to save yourself?
POSITIONING itself in plain sight to stalk its prey, this snow leopard is certainly on a mission to find something to munch.
The unsuspecting bharal blue sheep might not have enough time to bolt away, but can you spot it in time to save yourself?
The fearsome mountain cat crept up on the goat-like creatures as they roamed across the Indian Himalayas.
Its thick spotty fur managed to help it blend in with the rocky hillside as the snow leopard lurked in its vantage point.
The incredible snap of the elusive animal was taken by wildlife photographer Inger Vandyke in 2015.
The Aussie had embarked on a 17-day trek across the mountains to photograph the species in the wild.
She was joined by a team of local guides and a Brit expert who were desperate to catch a glimpse of some rare animals.
Inger said of her experience: "Snow leopards camouflage themselves so well in their landscape that they can turn their back on you and literally disappear into their landscape.
"When I look back at my photographs I often wonder how many we might have walked past in the field and simply didn’t see them."
Her patience eventually paid off, as she managed to spot some snow leopards even with their remarkable camouflage skills.
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So, did you spot the big cat quick enough?
If you take a closer look, you will notice there is something sinister hiding behind the pile of rocks next to the tree.
The snow leopard astonishingly managed to creep down the mountainside without detection before ducking behind the debris.
Inger pointed out that as they are masters of disguise, it takes a second for the human eye to adjust to distinguish the predator.
She told GrindTV: "Some of them [the guides] spotted snow leopards, then tried to point them out to us and it took us several minutes to train our vision to see them."
The photographer said they had to follow the snow leopard to keep track of its movement - but the pesky predator kept outsmarting them.
Inger added: "We would try to locate him again to take a photo and it would take us a minute or more to try and find him again as he hid behind a rock.
"Seven out of eight snow leopard hunts fail and we tried desperately to sit and hide so we wouldn’t interrupt his hunt.
"We wanted him to be successful so he could enjoy some food.
"That encounter was, and will probably always be, one of the the most incredible experiences I’ve had with a wild animal in my life.
"I was shaking at the end of it. Of course, this was partly because I was cold from sitting for hours in the ice while all this transpired, but I was also shaking because I couldn’t believe what we had just witnessed."
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Why not see if you can also spot the tiger hiding among this herd of zebras on a grassy plain too?
Or try and track down all 16 tigers in a jungle scene - and it's trickier than you might think.
