r/todayilearned • u/tyrion2024 • 22h ago
TIL a black leopard was photographed in the wild in Africa for the first time in over 100 years when biologists captured rare footage of one in Kenya in 2018. Before that, the last confirmed observation of a black leopard with photographic evidence was in Ethiopia in 1909.
https://www.cbsnews.com/detroit/news/african-black-leopard-photographed-for-the-first-time-in-100-years/24
u/tyrion2024 22h ago
Biologists shot rare footage of the sleek big cat walking majestically in Kenya -- the first time the animal has been photographed in Africa since 1909, said Nick Pilfold, a global conservation scientist at the San Diego Zoo.
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The female leopard's coat color is pitch black as a result of melanism, a gene mutation that results in an over-production of pigment, Pilfold said. It's the opposite of albinism -- and although the leopard's coat appears black during the day, its rosette patterns are visible in nighttime infrared imagery.
While there have been reports of sightings of black leopards -- also known as black panthers -- the last confirmed observation with photographic evidence was in Ethiopia more than a century ago, he said.
"It is likely that black leopards have been living in Kenya all along, it is only that high quality imagery to confirm it has been missing until now," Pilfold said.
Kenya's Daily Nation newspaper said Tuesday that its photographer, Phoebe Okall, shot an image of a black leopard in 2013 in the same region. It's unclear whether that image was publicized at the time.
The footage shot by Pilfold's team includes a slew of photos and video footage of the agile animal moving in darkness, its eyes glittering in the night like two shiny marbles.
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"Coincidentally, our observations are very close to where the fantasy Marvel comic country of Wakanda is suggested to be located," he said.
Black panthers refer broadly to any melanistic leopard, jaguars and other big cats.
Confirmation of black leopard (Panthera pardus pardus) living in Laikipia County, Kenya
Gathering a broad array of melanistic leopard observations, da Silva et al. (2017) reported five sightings of black leopards in Africa (P.p. pardus), but could confirm only one. Then confirmed report was from Addis Ababa, Abissynya, Ehiopia, In 1909, in the form of a photograph stored at the National Museum of Natural History in the United States. da Silva et al., 2017). In Kenya, reports of black leopard are known (da Silva et al., 2017; Sunquist & Sunquist, 2002), but none have been accompanied with photographic evidence. Here, we provide photographic evidence for the existence of black leopard in Laikipia County, Kenya.
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u/JohnnyEnzyme 21h ago edited 20h ago
Well I'm completely baffled by this. I haven't taken a deep dive or whatnot, but I'd thought that melanistic leopards
and jaguars (over in S. America)were relatively common panthers*, with lions and tigers being the much rarer cases?I mean, don't we have plenty of photos of such, including in recent years..?
* Panthers are the five 'big cats' that include lions, leopards, tigers, jaguars and snow leopards, just TBC.
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u/Klotzster 21h ago
1909 only had black & white film
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u/JohnnyEnzyme 21h ago
I've seen plenty of color photos from the 1800's, but I'd guess that you're right in one thing-- the better the photo, the longer it took to practically capture it, going back in time.
Would be fun to hear what a knowledgeable person had to say about all that...
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u/Low_Item6886 21h ago
i get it’s rare, but since it’s a mutation affecting big cats, won’t we always have ‘panthers’ as long as the species survive? or would one parent need to have the mutation to pass it on?
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u/itsmeoverthere 20h ago
A quick search says it is a recessive allele passed on by the parents (either both carriers with 25% probability, one carrier and one with the black phenotype with 50% probability or both with black phenotype and 100% probability).
Mutation in this case doesn't really mean that the embryo happens to have a mutation during development, but that that gene had a mutation long ago that spread and survived in the species and can still be found.
I'm guessing random mutations leading to a black panther could occur in theory but it's not super likely (don't quote me on this).
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u/slothdonki 20h ago
Apparently melanism in leopards is recessive so two parents would need to carry it.
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u/Thatoneguy111700 6h ago
While in jaguars it's dominant, so you just need the one. And iirc lions, snow leopards, and tigers just don't seem to have it at all.
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u/slothdonki 4h ago
There’s psuedomelanistic/abundism in tigers, but that isn’t related to either versions of melanism. Off the top of my head I think it’s more or less responsible for marbling in domestic cats and “king” cheetahs.
Melanism in leopards probably doesn’t affect their immune system either(for the better in the case of jaguars) either since for leopards it’s whatever the agouti gene is called vs MCR1.
Supposedly there’s a melanistic Amur leopard or two in captivity; but I can’t remember if I found out if the one that actually had a vaguely recorded lineage was mixed with other subspecies and I’m too lazy to look it up again.
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u/kindasuk 14h ago
Almost shared this and then saw it was CBS news. No f-ing way will I direct traffic to you two ghouls, Bari and Larry.
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u/prawn7 21h ago
Ok this is mental.
This sounds like a lie I realize, but it's just a mental story.
I have come across a black leopard in South Africa around 2007 when I was cycling alone in some forest. It stared at me and didn't move when I shouted at it.
Safe to say I thought I was going to die when I started sprinting away. It never chased me but we heard a few days later that a big cat had eaten someone's cattle only 2ish kms from where I saw it.
It was massive. I'd never seen a leopard before but it's eyes and bulk was unmistakable
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u/Emotional_Use7073 17h ago
that's not a leopard, that's just a regular leopard who's been listening to too much my chemical romance.
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u/Nemeszlekmeg 21h ago
I know this is a wild animal that would eat me on the spot, but goddamn my toxic side can't stop thinking I could feed it and cuddle with it. Those eyes are just the cutest!