Biologists shot rare footage of the sleek big cat walking majestically in Kenya — the first time the animal has been photographed in Africa since 1909, says Nick Pilfold, a San Diego Zoo global conservation scientist.
Pilfold said they captured the footage after months of watching and waiting. His team of biologists had placed remote wildlife cameras to track the leopard population near a conservancy in Laikipia County last year when they heard reports of a possible black leopard sighting.
“We intensified our camera placement in the area the reports were being made,” he said Tuesday night. “Within a few months, we were rewarded with multiple observations on our cameras.”
Here are more of my black leopard photos. What a stunning animal! I have shared a few more on instagram as well https://t.co/JNNq5eJ035 pic.twitter.com/cQAQPFQd6N
— Will Burrard-Lucas (@willbl) February 13, 2019
The female leopard’s coat color is pitch black as a result of melanism, a gene mutation that results in an over-production of pigment, Pilfold said. It’s the opposite of albinism — and although the leopard’s coat appears black during the day, its rosette patterns are visible in nighttime infrared imagery.
While there have been reports of sightings of black leopards — also known as black panthers — the last confirmed observation with photographic evidence was in Ethiopia more than a century ago, he said.
“It is likely that black leopards have been living in Kenya all along, it is only that high quality imagery to confirm it has been missing until now,” Pilfold said.
Spotted: a rare sighting of the black leopard in Laikipia – caught on camera by wildlife photographer Will Burrard-Lucas#LoveInTheWild pic.twitter.com/lMijWT92n4
— KWS (@kwskenya) February 13, 2019
Kenya’s Daily Nation newspaper said Tuesday that its photographer, Phoebe Okall, shot an image of a black leopard in 2013 in the same region. It’s unclear whether that image was publicized at the time.
While there may be reported sightings in Kenya, black leopards are still considered rare on the continent, Pilfold said.
Leopards are described as critically endangered on the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Red List of Threatened Species.