Bhubaneswar: A rare Melanistic Leopard, popularly known as Black Panther, has been recently recorded during the ongoing trap camera tiger census in the dense forests of Odisha.
PCCF Susanta Nanda took to his ‘X’ handled and shared the pictures of the black leopard lurking in the forest.
On going camera trap tiger census in Odisha is throwing up some exciting & unexpected presence of wild fauna in our state. pic.twitter.com/zRGnh9tcIv
— Susanta Nanda (@susantananda3) November 29, 2023
Leopards (Panthera Pardus) are either light-coloured (pale yellow to deep gold or tawny) with black rosettes or black fur.
The melanistic leopards, which are either all-black or very dark in colouration, are known as black panthers. It is a colour variant of spotted Indian leopards, reported from densely forested areas of south India.
Black coat colouration is attributed to the expression of recessive alleles in leopards and dominant alleles in jaguars. In each species, a certain combination of alleles stimulates the production of large amounts of the dark pigment melanin (Melanism) in the animal’s fur and skin.
It is as shy as a normal leopard and very difficult to detect. In India, they can be spotted in the states of Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Maharashtra and now also in Odisha.