The very first time I landed Dandeli as a naturalist, the first thing that came across my thought was 'Black panther'. I never had any kind of hopes that I would encounter this as it is the rarest of the rarest sighting.
15 days later our Safari driver brought into my notice that he spotted a Black panther and leopard pair together. Then my hunt for their sighting started. I did take almost 15 Safari trips but my bad could never spot them. But yesterday (15th Feb 2022) the day arrived. "The black lord" was resting over the branch of wild trees right over my head. My body started to tremble and I couldn't hold myself still straight for at least 15 minutes. It was my destiny to photograph them. Around 45 minutes later even the leopard came down. Got an amazing view to see the pair had united. It was "once in a lifetime" experience and orgasm to my eyes.
This is the first ever documented "Black panther" of Dandeli. For around 2 hours we were watching each other. Finally I'd head back post sunset around 6:15 pm but the bold " Black lord " was still resting there with his partner. Next day early morning we headed again and to our good grace we spotted the couple again but this time "Black lord" was on ground and Leopard was above. We could spot them for 5 minutes and then they return.
A black panther is the melanistic colour variant of the leopard. Black panther species have excess black pigments, but their typical rosettes are also present. They have been documented mostly in tropical forests. Melanism is caused by a recessive allele in the leopard. In 1794 friedrich Albrecht anton meyer proposed the scientific name Felis fusca for this cat. By the late 19th century, the occurrence of black and spotted leopard cubs in the same litter had been repeatedly recorded in india. Frequency of melanism appears to be approximately 11% over the leopard’s range.
Melanism in the leopard is conferred by a recessive allele. It is thought that melanism confers a selective advantage under certain conditions since it is more common in regions of dense forest, where light levels are lower. Preliminary studies also suggest that melanism might be linked to beneficial mutations in the immune system. The typical spots and rosettes are present but hidden due to the excess melanin.
This was not the first time the existence of ”Black Panther” was noticed in the Anshi Tiger Reserve. Previously as stated in www.conservationindia.org , there have been more than 100+ photo-captures of black leopards in the dense evergreen forests of Dandeli-Anshi Tiger Reserve in Karnataka during camera trap surveys in the past three years (Dated on 2012)[1].
I had a chance to discuss this with our beloved Maria Christu Raja (DFO) and Sangamesh Patil (RFO). They have made a well plan to develop and conserve this area. I am thankful to our beloved DFO and RFO for their support and work for conserving these areas in a well planned manner.
