The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : Black leopard sighted at Masinagudi

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Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Black leopard sighted at Masinagudi

P. Oppili

CHENNAI: A black leopard was sighted in the Masinagudi range of the Mudumalai Tiger Reserve in January this year.

The four-year-old adult male was trapped in a camera set up by a team of researchers from the Wildlife Institute of India, who have been running a research project on ‘Ecology of sympatric carnivores in Mudumalai.’

K. Sankar, principal investigator of the project, says black leopard is a melanistic formation: the individual looks black in colour, and the regular coat underneath the body may not be visible prominently. They are reported from the Western Ghats and in the north-east Indian forests, but very rare to sight.

Little chance of survival

Normally the melanistic individuals of stalking predators have very little chance of survival, as they cannot camouflage with the surroundings, thus losing their ability to hunt effectively in forests. That is why they may not survive like other leopards.

The WII researchers set up the camera in 2006, but only in January this year did they catch the adult black leopard in the camera trap. This is for the first time that the WII has recorded black leopard in the Western Ghats. One was sighted in the Pakui Wildlife Sanctuary, Arunachal Pradesh, in 2006.

“We have estimated the density of leopards in Mudumalai as 13 animals in 100 square kilometre, which is one of the highest in the country,” Dr. Sankar says.

Another sighting

K. Kandasamy, who served as District Forest Officer (North) in Udhagamandalam, says that in 2006, a black leopard was sighted between Ubathala and Keti. The animal was rescued and released in the Upper Bhavani Range.

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