Black leopard spotted for first time in 100 years
Whispers of sightings of the elusive black leopard have long swirled around central Kenya, and scientists have now confirmed its presence there with a series of rare images taken by camera traps.
The images were captured by researchers from the San Diego Zoo, which has been studying leopards in the Loisaba wildlife conservancy, as well as an independent photographer working in the region at the same time.
“We are very excited to hear that these camera traps have captured rare footage of melanistic leopards, otherwise known as black panthers!” the conservancy said on its website.
Melanism is a genetic mutation like albinism, except it leads to a surplus in pigment that turns the fur or skin of an animal black.
The study, led by San Diego Zoo researcher Nicholas Pilfold and published in the African Journal of Ecology in January, said the photos represent the first scientific confirmation in a century of the black leopard’s presence in Africa.
The last confirmed report was a photograph taken in Addis Ababa in 1909 that is stored in the Museum of National History in the United States.
In Kenya, a captive black leopard was photographed in 2013, while other images taken from a helicopter circulated in 2018.
However, the latest photos represent the first recorded scientific evidence.
Pilford said that after receiving numerous reports of sightings of the leopard, his team set up eight camera traps in February 2018, and within three months had snapped a sub-adult female.
He estimates there are definitely two, possibly three in the region.
“By far, these are the best, most intimate images we have of a black leopard in Africa . . . ”
Any big cat species with melanism is referred to as a black panther, such as black leopards in Asia and Africa and black jaguars in the Americas.
According to Pilford, only 11% of leopards across the globe are black.