Experts from three organisations have come up with Spatial Mark-Resight (SMR) model that helps in properly estimating the leopard population in areas sustaining a mix of rosette and melanistic individuals.
- This model was applied by the scientists of Aaranyak, Panthera and World Wide Fund for Nature-India.
- Rosettes are jagged black circular marks on the tawny coat of a leopard. The rosettes of each leopard are unique in shape and size, making the species identifiable individually.
- But melanistic leopards — commonly called black leopards or black panthers or ghongs (Assamese) — have been difficult to estimate as their rosettes are invisible.
- The Spatial Mark-Resight (SMR) models have provided a way of counting the melanistic leopards too.
(Source: The Hindu)
