In an extremely rare sighting, two black leopards or melanistic leopards were spotted in Odisha's jungles through camera traps installed for the ongoing tiger census, forest officials said. The images of the leopards were captured in camera traps installed in the forest areas for tiger census, principal chief conservator of forests (PCCF), wildlife, Susanta Nanda told news agency PTI.
"Two melanistic leopards, a male and a female, were spotted in two different forest areas of our state during the census. This is not unnatural. Earlier, too, such melanistic leopards were seen in the state… this is a natural phenomenon," Nanda said.
The exact location of the spottings, however, has not been revealed to protect the big cats.
Nanda said the leopards took birth with such black colour due to genetic mutations and excess secretion of pigments.
"We will analyse the presence of such leopards and tigers using artificial intelligence to avoid duplicity," Nanda said.
He added that the exact number of such wild animals can be known only after the completion of the ongoing tiger census on January 15.
Another senior forest official Parveen Kaswan also shared an image of another black panther spotted earlier and said, "Black panthers are found in almost all states in India where one can find common leopards. They are just melanistic common leopards. This one we captured a few years back in a camera trap."
Reacting to the pictures on social media, users expressed congratulated the forest department for the exciting find.
"That sounds incredibly interesting! It's amazing to see the diverse wildlife that exists in Odisha through the camera trap tiger census," wrote one user. "Wow, that's a black panther, very difficult to sight," commented another.
Earlier, such leopards were seen in the Daspalla forest area in Nayagarh district and Badampahar area in Sundergarh district of Odisha. A melanistic tiger is located in Similipal Tiger Reserve in Mayurbhanj district.
(With inputs from PTI)
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