African Black Leopard Photographed First Time in 100 Years

A rare African black leopard was recently photographed. A biologist captured rare footage of the big cat majestically walking in Kenya. The animal photograph has not been captured since 1909, according to Nick Pilfold, a scientist with the official zoo of San Diego.

They captured the footage after months of waiting and watching, said Pilfold. Remote wildlife cameras were placed to track the population of leopards near Laikipia county’s conservancy after receiving reports of a possible African black leopard sighting.

After the reports were made they intensified camera placement in the area, he said they were rewarded within a few months with multiple observations recorded on their cameras.

There have been many reports of the black leopard also know as the black panther the last confirmed observation with photographic evidence was more than a century ago in Ethiopia.

Daily Nation Photographer Phoebe Okall was said to have shot an image of an African black leopard in 2013 in the same region. Whether or not the photos were publicized at that time is unclear.

Globally, melanism or dark-colored pigment in the skin happens in about 11 percent of leopards. According to Pilfold, most of these leopards live in Southeast Asia.

Shooting a picture of the African black leopard has been described as a longterm dream of Will Burrard, the photographer who shot the images of the cat.

He posted on his blog that he knew of no one who photographed the African black leopard in the wild and he never did think that he would either.

Written by Leon Murray
Edited by Cathy Milne-Ware

Source:

CNN: Rare black leopard captured in new images from Kenya

Featured and Top Image Courtesy of  Cloudtail the Snow Leopard Flickr Page – Creative Commons License