On a trip to a tiger reserve in Central India, a photographer inadvertently captured the pictures of a lifetime: a scarce variant of an already elusive predator.
According to Times Now News, wildlife photographer Arvind Ramamurthy traveled to the Bhadra Tiger Reserve in Karnataka to view Malabar pied hornbills. After a fruitful day capturing stunning images of the reserve's landscape and wildlife, he took a boat ride, hoping to spot elephants and river terns. Instead, they spotted the spots of leopard cubs and their mother. Then came the pièce de résistance: a black panther cub.
The significance of the sighting was not lost on Ramamurthy. "Seeing a leopard is rare, one with cubs is rarer, and with one black among them is almost too much to ask for. It's a core memory for all of us," he said.
A panther is not a separate species of big cat but a term to describe a jaguar or leopard with a dark coat. Both still have spots; they're not typically visible to the naked eye. The presence of the agouti gene causes the distinctive, sleek coloring. According to Panthera, melanism is found in several big cats, affecting about 10% of the population. They're most likely to be found in moist forests, but the research is still in its infancy.
As apex predators of forests, leopards perform a vital ecological role in maintaining the balance of food webs. Their numbers in the wild have dropped because of illegal poaching and habitat destruction. However, recent signs for India's leopards are quietly encouraging; there has been a slight uptick in the population. The 500 square kilometers of protected lands in Bhadra support an estimated 178 leopards, meaning there are fewer than 20 panthers in the whole reserve.
Whether it's via the sharp eyes of a photographer or the work of trail cameras, capturing footage of elusive species is always an encouraging development. The images help inform local efforts to protect threatened species based on accurate ideas of the animal's numbers and ranges.
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