Another attraction thrilling both the forest department and tourists is the sighting of a ‘black’ leopard in Maharashtra’s Pench Tiger Reserve. This sighting evokes images from Rudyard Kipling’s ‘The Jungle Book,’ as Mowgli’s protector ‘Bagheera’ has been spotted in the ‘Sher Khan’ territory of the Chorbahuli range of the reserve just a few days ago. The ‘black’ pigmentation on the leopard’s body is described as ‘pseudomelanistic,’ where the dark spots are more densely packed than usual, giving it a striking black appearance.
The golden-brown background is obscured by dark fur due to an excess of melanin, the pigment responsible for skin and hair colour in animals. This marks the fifth recorded sighting of a rare ‘black’ leopard in Central India. The park’s management is closely monitoring this ‘new find’.
