Sir David Attenborough’s new series Mammals reveals the astonishing moment African leopard hunts baboons in total darkness in world-first footage of its kind [Video]

Sir David Attenborough‘s new wildlife series Mammals has revealed the astonishing moment an African leopard hunts a group of baboons in a forest in total darkness.

In world-first footage of its kind, a huge female leopard is seen prowling around and preparing to hunt.

As the sun goes down, the camera switches to night vision for the rest of the episode and is able to pick out the yellow baboons as specks of white in the pitch black, replicating the big cat’s excellent eyesight in the dark.

The prey, sitting 65 feet above the forest floor, are completely unaware of the agile predator as it starts to climb the tall trees in search of food.

Lacking the night vision of the leopard, the baboons rely on their excellent hearing to alert them to threats in the dark.