Black panthers are not that uncommon

The long-term camera trap surveys being conducted by the forest department and the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) is beginning to show results as the cameras have captured more than 100 black leopards in the dense forest of the Dandeli-Anshi Tiger Reserve in the past three years.

These surveys are part of the long-term camera trap studies of tigers and leopards being conducted in the Malnad-Mysore Tiger Landscape of Karnataka for over two decades by the Centre for Wildlife studies, with support from the Wildlife Conservation Society. This project has generated several interesting captures of black leopards in this landscape, including some in drier forests.

During the current year of intensive tiger monitoring under phase IV of National Tiger Estimation in Dandeli-Anshi Tiger Reserve, the project led by Ullas Karanth of WCS threw up a unique photo capture of a family of leopards that had two spotted and one melanistic member. These photo were taken at Satkhand-Kalamkhand Road in May 2012 by a team working under the guidance of Samba Kumar, joint director-conservation science, WCS, according to Karanth. At Bandipura, a black leopard was spotted in April 2008 along Chippana Halla Road and another on Danadari Camp Road in February 2010.