HUBBALLI: Wildlife photographers are now rallying behind the black panthers or black leopards in the forests of Karnataka. In the last fortnight, Kabini safari zone in Nagarhole Tiger Reserve has recorded over a dozen sightings of these melanistic leopards.
The sighting of black panther in the tourism zone has tremendously increased demand for wildlife safaris in Nagarhole in the last few weeks. Similar sightings are being reported in the safari zone of Kali Tiger Reserve (KTR) at Dandeli, which has the highest number of black leopards in the wild.
Black leopards or melanistic leopards are nothing but black mutated animals of the same species. Their pitch dark colour, cat eyes and elusive nature makes the sightings prized ones.
An ongoing survey in Kali Tiger Reserve about the black leopards has some interesting facts. About 14 per cent of the total leopard population in Dandeli Forests is black in colour.
Kali Tiger Reserve director K Sreenivasulu, who has taken up the scientific survey, stated that the camera trap images were used to arrive at the percentage of melanistic leopards in the Reserve.
“The black panthers are sighted regularly in the tourism zone of Pansoli. People who are familiar with the roads of Anashi division also keep sighting these leopards during evening hours. The wildlife tourists who come here from Mumbai and Pune often come to see a black leopard rather than a tiger or a spotted leopard,” the officer said.
Spread over 900 sq km, the Kali Reserve is the first forest patch where black leopards were sighted. Though these animals always wandered our forests, the increase in numbers of people driving around the forests, frequent visits by photographers and camera traps are now exposing the elusive life of the black leopards.
The camera trap experiments taken up by the Forest Department and Wildlife Conservation Society (India) have shown the patterns of black leopard movement in the Karnataka. Besides Kali Tiger Reserve, the black leopards are seen in Bandipur, Nagarhole and Bhadra (rarely).
Some occasional sightings have also been reported from the forests of Goa and Honnavar in Karnataka.
H C Kantharaj, director of Nagarhole Reserve, said there has been increased demand among the tourists, especially wildlife photographers to sight the black panthers. “The black leopards are regularly being sighted in the tourism zone and hence the demand has increased. These leopards are also found in other ranges such as Antarsante and Noogu, but their presence in Kabini tourism zone is attracting larger crowds,” he added.
Vijay Mohan Raj, Chief Conservator of Forests, noted that the perspective of wildlife tourism changes when sightings of rare animals like black leopards increases in tourism zones. “Traditionally, the black panthers are recorded in the evergreen and semi evergreen patches of forests in the state,” he says.
J V Daniel in his book ‘Leopards of India’ (1970) states that Anashi region of Kali Reserve has the highest concentration of black leopards, he added.