A photographer has captured a picture of the elusive black panther in Laikipia, Kenya.
The two-year-old female panther, dubbed “Giza” by trackers, was first spotted across the Ewaso Narok river greater than six months ago by excited locals.
Photographed at close range, this marks the primary time the black panther — also often known as a melanistic leopard — was snapped without camera traps in Africa.
“Getting the chance to trace and photograph a black leopard at close range alone within the wilds of Laikipia, was each an incredible thrill and a unprecedented privilege,” photographer Chris Brunskill said.
In line with research published within the African Journal of Ecology, only 11% of panthers have this specific coloring and sightings are rare.
Giza, nevertheless, is used to people and has turn into more comfortable with having people and vehicles round her.
The rare black panther was one in every of two cubs born to the more commonly coloured and usually seen spotted leopard.
The rare, all-black coloring is on account of an excess of melanin — which is the other of albinism and only occurs in animals, not humans — and causes a darker skin pigment.
Led by ranger Joseph Mugambi, Brunskill and his team observed the enormous cat in its natural habitat in an try to document and understand more of the cat’s movements.
The team repeatedly watched her cross the river at sunset to start hunting in the realm across the Laikipia Wilderness Camp before she returned triumphantly carrying her prey.
Brunskill steadily documents Giza’s every day activities on Instagram to his 23,000 followers, who’re stunned by the incredible creature.
“I realize it is real….. nevertheless it doesn’t look real,” one commented. “Looks like a movie set!!”
“I love that magic cat,” added one other.
“Seems comfortable to be your model,” chimed in a 3rd.
It’s not the primary time the rare cat has been spotted. A similarly sleek animal was snapped in India’s Tadoba National Park by photographer Anurag Gawande in 2021.
The last known instance of a wild black panther being caught on film was in 2019 by wildlife photographer Will Burrard-Lucas, who spent six months attempting to capture the melanistic cat in Kenya, eventually photographing it using camera traps.
