In central Kenya, biologists and wildlife photographer Will Burrard-Lucas captured footage of a fantastically rare melanistic leopard, sometimes known as an African “black panther.” There are only two known prior photos of an African black leopard, from 1909 and 2007. From National Geographic:
“Almost everyone has a story about seeing one, it’s such a mythical thing,” says Pilfold, of San Diego Zoo Global’s Institute for Conservation Research.
“Even when you talk to the older guys that were guides in Kenya many years ago, back when hunting was legal [in the 1950s and ‘60s], there was a known thing that you didn’t hunt black leopards. If you saw them, you didn’t take it…”
Pilfold adds it’s curious that the fictional country of Wakanda, home of the superhero Black Panther, is located in East Africa, fairly close to Kenya.
“It’s a unique coincidence,” says Pilfold. “The only place where we have black leopards is where this place in the Marvel Universe appears to exist.”
“Black leopard spotted in Africa for first time in 100 years” (National Geographic)
Black Leopard: My quest to photograph the most elusive cat in Africa (Camtraptions)
