A mother leopard looked contented as she gave her cub a hug in a series of heartwarming pictures of the cats in the wild.  

Wildlife photographer Leighton Lum, 32, snapped the cute scenes in Kenya after noticing the cub starting to annoy its mum when a sudden downpour woke the little leopard from its nap.

In a beautiful show of affection the wild cats snuggle up together, leaving the mother with what appears to be a large smile of her face.  

Mr Lum said sightings of the animals were much better as a result of the pandemic because there were fewer vehicles and people.

He said things got interesting when the cub woke up and ‘got really playful and curious’, trying to climb trees and wake up its mother.    

‘Eventually he wondered near our vehicle and the mother followed,’ Mr Lum added. ‘They settled in not more than a 50ft away from the vehicle and started to play. It was incredible. 

‘I really enjoyed watching this tender moment between mother and cub. It’s a behaviour not often seen and it’s rare to see them like this out in the open and at close range.’

A mother leopard appeared to beam from ear to ear as she and her cub snuggled together after waking up from a nap in Kenya

Wildlife photographer Leighton Lum captured the heartwarming interaction between the mother leopard and her cub after it woke her up from their nap 

Mr Lum said a sudden downpour woke the infant leopard up and it began doing everything it could to wake its mother up 

Mr Lum said sightings of the animals were much better as a result of the pandemic because there were fewer vehicles and people

After getting soaked from the rain, the cub ‘got really playful and curious’, trying to climb trees and wake up its mother