![]() However, recent studies have found that black panthers, in this case ‘black leopards,’ are astoundingly common in one part of the world: the Malayan peninsula. The rarity of the black panther-not to mention its striking appearance-has added to their mystery. But the real black panther isn’t an actual species, instead it’s a rare dark pigmentation found most commonly in leopards, but also occasionally in jaguars and other wild cats. The black panther has a mythical aura: Rudyard Kipling chose the animal for one of his heroes in The Jungle Book, in the 1970s it became the symbol of an African-American socialist party, while comic guru Stan Lee selected the stunning feline for his first black superhero. Pilfold said in the paper.A black panther (in this case a leopard) caught on camera trap in the Kenyir Wildlife Corridor. “Melanism is hypothesized to be an adaptation to environments in which a dark coloration provides camouflage from predators or prey,” Dr. Despite being called black, they are usually very dark brown and have the same pattern of spots as other leopards, according to the Out of Africa Park in Arizona, which hosts two black leopards, named Enoch and Silhouette.īut there are also theories suggesting that melanism could have an environmental factor. The dark coloration of the melanistic leopards’ coat is attributed to a recessive gene that causes the loss of the normal function. “Collectively, these images are the first reported in nearly 100 years that confirm the existence of black leopard in Africa, and the first in Kenya,” the paper said. Word of the camera observations brought forth another high-quality image of a black leopard from the Ol Ari Nyiro Conservancy, also in Laikipia, which was taken in May 2007. “Unconfirmed observations from September 2017 from the two leopards together suggest that this nonmelanistic female might be the mother of the black leopard,” according to the paper, which added that in previous sightings, the black leopard was “smaller in size, and in closer proximity to her mother.” She appeared alone in four nighttime videos - drinking water from artificial water sources or carrying remains of her prey - but in the only daytime video, she was following an adult female leopard with normal markings. There have been a few reported observations of this subspecies in Africa, but, until now, only one had been confirmed, in Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia, in 1909.įollowing unconfirmed reports of a black leopard in Laikipia County, the research team installed eight cameras around the Laikipia Wilderness Camp - focusing on available water sources, such as swimming pools and natural springs, and on animal trails.įrom February to April 2018, five of the cameras recorded footage of a young female black leopard. But, apparently, melanism - the cause of the dark coloring - can also be displayed in semiarid climates, like that of Laikipia, according to the paper. The leopard, scientific name Panthera pardus, is more commonly found with a black coat in tropical and humid Southeast Asia. The researchers’ findings were published in the African Journal of Ecology in January.
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