- On February 10, 2019, the San Diego Zoo in USA confirmed a rare black leopard, sometimes called black panther, was spotted by remote cameras set up as part of a larger study into the populations of the creatures in Kenya. This is first time in more than 100 years, existence of black leopard has been confirmed in Africa.
- The study, led by San Diego Zoo researcher Nicholas Pilfold and published in the African Journal of Ecology in January, said the photos represent the first scientific confirmation in a century of the black leopard’s presence in Africa.
- Melanism is a genetic mutation like albinism, except it leads to a surplus in pigment that turns the fur or skin of an animal black.
- While there have been previous reports of sightings of black leopards in Africa — they’re also known as black panthers — the new images offer important confirmation.
- British Photographer Will Burrard-Lucas had heard murmurs about the potential presence of a black leopard roaming the area when he set up camp in Kenya. With help from a local tour guide and other leopard researchers in Laikipia County, who followed tracks believed to belong to the leopard, Burrard-Lucas eventually settled on what he considered the perfect spot to set up Camtraptions Camera Traps.
- The previously confirmed sighting — which was also caught on film — of a black leopard in Africa was back in 1909 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, according to the research paper. A photograph of that big black cat is stored at the National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C.
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