Black leopard recorded in Navegaon forest

Nagpur: After Tadoba, a melanistic leopard (commonly known as black panther) has been recorded in Navegaon block, which is now part of Navegaon-Nagzira Tiger Reserve (NNTR).
RM Ramanujam, NNTR field director and conservator of forests, said, “The leopard was recorded in camera traps during Phase IV estimation in the NNTR in February. The fact came to light during analysis by the Wildlife Institute of India (WII), Dehradun.”
Ramanujam added, “The melanistic leopard is moving between interconnected Navegaon National Park and Navegaon Wildlife Sanctuary. It was found even last year but the matter was not publicized. The picture of the big cat went viral after WII scientist Bilal Habib shared it on Twitter.”
Earlier, on May 30, 2018, a melanistic leopard was first recorded by a Belgian diplomat Jean-Francois Aernouts and his family in the Kolsa range of Tadoba-Andhari Tiger Reserve (TATR). However, the spotting of the leopard was dubbed as a black leopard. Later, the leopard was sighted in Tadoba range leading to speculation that there were two such leopards in Tadoba.
“It is something unique as black panthers are melanistic and are generally found in evergreen forests like the Western Ghats and Dandeli-Anshi in Karnataka, but its record in Tadoba and NNTR, which is a dry deciduous forest, needs attention,” said Habib.
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ALL ABOUT MELANISM
* Black panther in Asia and Africa is actually the black leopard (Panthera Pardus), and the one in the US is black jaguar (Panthera Onca)
* A black panther is the same species as a normal-coloured panther with a high amount of pigment (melanin) causing the animal to appear black. Melanism occurs because of a recessive gene mutation
* The condition is caused by agouti gene, which regulates distribution of black pigment within the hair shaft
* A closer look at a panther’s coat will reveal the characteristic spots of the leopard and jaguar, hiding under a cloak of excess melanin, in what is called ‘ghost striping’
* Black panthers are found in states like Kerala, Karnataka, Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra, Goa, Tamil Nadu, Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, and Odisha
* Melanism is hereditary but is not necessarily passed on directly to the next generation. A black panther cub may be born even if both parents are normal coloured
* A normal-coloured leopard can carry the recessive melanistic gene. Often, a black leopard cub is born along with fair-coloured cubs. If both parents are black, the leopard cubs are always black