The wild African black leopard has been the stuff of legend and campfire story for decades.
The animal – whose coat is sooty black as a result of melanism, the opposite of albinism – is extremely rare.
But a British wildlife photographer has become the first person to photograph the black leopard in more than a century.
Will Burrard-Lucas captured the images, which were released to the public on Monday, at the Laikipia Wilderness Camp in Kenya after hearing reports of sightings in the area.
After meeting with locals who had seen the animals, and following leopard tracks, Burrard-Lucas set up a Camtraptions camera trap that included wireless motion sensors, in the hope of photographing the animals at night.
“The #blackleopard, known as a #blackpanther in Africa and Asia, is a secretive and elusive creature, one in which wildlife photographer Will Burrard-Lucas dreamed of capturing in high-quality photographs” https://t.co/zHyFJyHDiL pic.twitter.com/n8TGjbFeRD
— RoseToCreate (@RoseToCreate) February 12, 2019
After several days without success Burrard-Lucas returned to his cameras to find a striking image.
“I had a quick look at the last trap, not expecting to find much,” Burrard-Lucas wrote on his blog. “As I scrolled through the images on the back of the camera, I paused and peered at the photograph below in incomprehension … a pair of eyes surrounded by inky darkness … a black leopard! I couldn’t believe it and it took a few days before it sank in that I had achieved my dream.”
After hearing about Pilfold’s findings, staff at Ol Ari Nyiro Conservancy—30 miles west of Loisaba—turned up a high-quality image of a second black leopard, taken in May 2007.
Since that photo is more than a decade older, the researchers conclude it must be of a different individual, which suggests black panthers are more prevalent in Kenya than in other African countries.
But African black panthers are still so rare that researchers don’t even know if the genetic mutation responsible for the dark pigmentation is the same one that underlies melanism in Southeast Asian leopards.
Pilfold adds it’s curious that the fictional country of Wakanda, home of the superhero Black Panther, is located in East Africa, fairly close to Kenya.
“It’s a unique coincidence,” says Pilfold. “The only place where we have black leopards is where this place in the Marvel Universe appears to exist.”