Thursday 1 July 2010

The World's Bravest Mouse


This mouse danced with death when it tucked itself into the lunch of a hungry leopard. Like a little child and seemingly unaware of the beast towering over it, the mischievous 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, called Sheena, appeared to be afraid of the daring mouse and kept her distance. At one stage she tried to nudge the mouse away with her nose, but the determined little guy carried on chewing away until he was full.

2 comment(s):

Anonymous said...

The little fellow may have toxoplasmosis. It's caused by a parasite that wants to get from mouse to cat, and rewires the mouse brain so that it's not afraid of cats.

The leopard made a good choice by leaving it alone.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toxoplasmosis#Behavioral_changes

Ted said...

Interesting point...