Wildlife
spotting has become quite interesting since the beginning of this year. This
year started with an amazing Snowy owl in Central Park and there seem to be
some more! Today, it's going to be an unusual black leopard in the Indian
wildlife park.
This black
leopard was first seen by the wildlife photographer, Anurag Gawande in Tadoba
National Park in January. The park is located in western Maharashtra state. He
came across this rare meet-up while he was trying to locate a tiger in his
camera. It had been the second time he witnessed this black leopard. Yet, he says
that the thrill is the same.
‘I felt the
same thrill while watching it but this time I was aware of its moment. We kept
our vehicle off and kept enough distance so that it will not move from the
spot.’
The leopard
was given a unique identity with his skin sharply contrasting with the clay red
ground in which he was walking. According to specialists, this black leopard is
the rarest of its kind since it has black spots distinctly visible on the shiny
coat. However, they are known as the black panthers though they are melanistic.
But, seeing them is quite hard as there are only 11% of them with unique
pigmentation. This particular leopard is considered to be the one and only
black leopard in this park.
As per the
details given by the photographer, the leopard had been attempting to hunt a
deer at the moment. He had captured these wonderful pics while the panther was
resting for about 20mins unbothered by its failure.
Unfortunately,
all the Indian leopards are categorized under the list of vulnerable species
due to the loss of habitats and poaching. The present population of leopards in
India is between 12,000 to 14,000.
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