In the Land of Mowgli: Elusive black leopard spotted in MP’s Pench Tiger Reserve

Madhya Pradesh’s Pench National Park, also known as the Land of Mowgli, is in the news for all right reasons. Looks like Bagheera (a character from the famous novel The Jungle Book) has returned to his homeland after years. Recently, a tourist at the park shared a 30-second video, featuring a rare black leopard while on a jungle safari. Soon after he shared the video online, it went viral. The video has left the wildlife enthusiasts all excited, who are calling it a rare sighting.

The video seems to have been shot from inside a vehicle. It shows three leopards, two regular leopards walking side by side and the third one, stark black in colour, walking behind. The internet family is little confused whether it is a partial melanistic leopard or a complete melanistic.
A media firm has reported that the forest department in Pench has increased surveillance in the whole region and camera traps to find more black wild cats. The authorities are super excited and believe that the news will likely boost tourism in the state.

Just a few months back, two elusive black leopards were spotted and captured in the Kabini forest of Karnataka by a famous wildlife photographer. His pictures went viral on social media, which helped boost tourism in the area. According to wildlife photography experts, there are no photographic records of black leopards in MP’s Pench National Park, which is why this is a special sighting recorded.
What makes black leopards special and rare?

Consider yourself one in a million if you ever spot a black leopard because these creatures are extremely rare and special! A black leopard is usually the melanistic colour version of your regular spotted leopards. These black mysterious cats too have spots on their body, but it’s not clearly visible because of its black colour. Melanism in leopards is because of a recessive allele.