In a rare fete, biologists have spotted a black leopard, also known as a Black Panther, in Kenya.
Nick Pilfold, a San Diego Zoo global scientist, said they captured the footage of the leopard in Laikipia County by sheer luck.
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. The opposite of albinism. The condition according to the biologist is very rare as it only occurs to about 11 percent of leopards globally.
What is even more mind-boggling is its rare existence on African soil. They are mostly found in South East Asia. The last documented time a Black Panther was spotted in Africa was in 1909 in Ethiopia.
The discovery led the scientist Pilfold to thinking that the Black leopards may have been living in Kenya all along, but there’s been no footage to confirm the observations until now.
This especially since he last year with his team heard unconfirmed reports of a possible black leopard sighting.
Pilfold marvelled at the coincidence of the location of an animal that’s also called the black panther — the title of one of last year’s biggest movies.