Leopard chases squirrel up and down a tree in comical video

A ranger at the MalaMala Private Game Reserve in South Africa spotted a leopard in a tree and soon realized a squirrel was in the tree, too. Then the fun began.

“Being about 100 times smaller, it would be safe to assume that the squirrel would make a dash for it, but no! Not this squirrel,” Piet Van Wyk told LatestSightings.com. “It wanted to have some fun first! It waited for the leopard at the bottom of the trunk, and as soon as the leopard came near, the squirrel shot back up the tree!

“Up and down, and around they went. It was like this squirrel had something to prove, or maybe just the heart of a lion!

“At one point, the leopard was so confused that it completely lost the squirrel, who was dead still, right in front of her face.

“Then, with a slight movement, the leopard found it again, and the games were back on!”

Van Wyk provided the hilarious video to LatestSightings.

“This lasted for about five minutes, and eventually, it was the squirrel that darted into the bushes,” Van Wyk said. “Maybe it became too tired or just had enough of messing around.

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"The leopard was still determined and ran after it into the bushes, but never ended up catching it.”

This article originally appeared on For The Win: Leopard chases squirrel up and down a tree in comical video