BHUBANESWAR: The sighting of a melanistic leopard carrying its cub in its mouth in the forests of Odisha’s central region has brought joy to wildlife enthusiasts across the country.
Though this is not the first time black panthers have been detected in Odisha’s forests but a melanistic big cat seen with its cub was definitely a first instance.
What is even more interesting is at least five black panthers have been sighted in the camera traps in the central Odisha landscape, sources in the wildlife wing of Forest department said.
PCCF (wildlife) Prem Kumar Jha said one of the elusive black cats was recently caught on camera and the forest department has been taking all steps to protect their habitat. “These elusive black panthers are vital to the ecosystem and protecting their habitat ensures a thriving wildlife heritage,” he said.
Sources in the wildlife wing said apart from the one camera trapped, four more black panthers including a cub have been found in Nayagarh and Mahanadi Wildlife landscape.
“While four melanistic leopards had been camera trapped, one of the cubs born recently in the territory has also been found to be melanistic, signalling a growing population of the big cats in the region,” a wildlife official said.
Last year, the wildlife wing had spotted a melanistic leopard in the forests of Hemagiri in the Sundargarh district, the place where a black panther was captured on camera for the first time in the state in 2018.
The All Odisha Leopard Estimation Report 2024 of the state government which had pegged state’s leopard count at 696 last year, also mentioned that melanistic leopard morph had been recorded in three forest divisions of the state during the enumeration exercise.
Forest officials said the black panthers are a colour variant of the Indian leopard and these melanistic cats are equally shy and are very difficult to detect.
The PCCF (wildlife) said measures have been put in place for protection of majestic cats and their habitat is same as it is for any other keystone species.