King Leopard from India

Chlidonias · 3 Oct 2016

a leopard with an extraordinary mutation similar to that of the King Cheetah was photographed on camera traps in 2012 at the Parambikulam Tiger Reserve in Kerala, India.

I just came across a photo for the first time, and thought it was beautiful, so tracked down a couple of the newspaper articles about it. There is a different photo on each link.

Colour camouflage in Kerala?s Parambikulam forests - The Hindu

Leopard with a ?designer? coat - IN SCHOOL - The Hindu

A leopard cannot change its spots, but can still sport a designer look.

A leopard with black spots that resemble a ‘mehandi’ design was spotted at the Parambikkulam Tiger Reserve in Palakkad district recently.

The leopard was photographed by the camera traps set up at the Reserve, said V. Gopinath, Chief Wildlife Warden of the Kerala Forest Department.

Wildlife experts say that it could be a case of pseudo-melanism or even a quick change in camouflage to suit the habitat.

P.O. Nameer, Head, Centre for Wildlife Studies, College of Forestry, Thrissur, was of the view that the photographed animal was a pseudo-melanistic one. In such cases, the black spots on the golden-brown skin of the animal would be densely packed.

The black spots would merge to obscure the background colour of the skin. The closely packed black spots in the photographed animal seemed to have formed into some interesting patterns, he said.

Normal leopards would have golden-yellow coat with small, closely set black spots called rosettes. In leopards with increased presence of melanin in skin, the black colour would dominate, giving the impression that the animal has a black coat. Such leopards are called black panthers, he explained.

Though Black Panthers were not uncommon in Kerala forests, a pseudo-melanistic leopard was quite rare and this could be the first confirmed sighting of the animal from the State, he said. E.A. Jayson, Head of the Wildlife Department of the Kerala Forest Research Institute, Thrissur, said the sighted animal could be a melanistic one or was even having a quick change in camouflage to suit its habitat. Melanism could be caused by genetic mutation. White tigers and black leopards were examples for the phenomenon, he said.

It had been reported that leopards exhibit a range of colour and pattern variations. Studies had indicated that leopards living in desert areas tend to be pale yellow in colour whereas those inhabiting grasslands had a deeper golden colour. Detailed studies were needed to reach a convincing conclusion, Dr. Jayson said.

Mr. Gopinath said the animal would be closely watched for finding out whether it was a case of genetic mutation. No genetic studies are planned on the animal right now. However, efforts would be taken to sight the animal again, he said.

‘No subspecies’

Mr. Nameer ruled out the possibility of a taxonomic distinctiveness in this case.

There was no possibility of the animal belonging to a separate subspecies.

For a subspecies to evolve, there should be geographical isolation of the species from the rest of the habitats for millions of years.

There was no such isolation in Parambikkulam area that was part of a contiguous forest ecosystem.

The leopards found in the Indian sub-continent belonged to the species Panthera pardus, he said.

Dr. Jayson also felt that the possibility of the sighted leopard belonging to a subspecies was very remote.

Studies were needed to check whether more such individuals existed in the locality. Genetic studies also needed to reach any conclusion as this was just one observation about a biological feature, he said.
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Arizona Docent · 3 Oct 2016

I think I have seen this before. It appears to be a case of abundism, which also occurs in tigers in Orissa state (India) occasionally. The spots here (or stripes in the case of tigers) are more numerous and densely packed than usual. However (in both cases) the undercoat is still the normal color, so it is NOT a case of melanism or pseudo melanism as many claim.

Hix · 3 Oct 2016

I've never heard of pseudo-melanism, or abundism (but according to Wikipedia they are the same thing), but this looks like a pattern morph, because there is nothing that resembles the original pattern of rosettes. It's all stripey.

Interesting looking animal though.

Hix

MoleRat · 3 Oct 2016

Also occurs in the Somali subspecies (Panthera pardus nanopardus).

ThylacineAlive · 3 Oct 2016

If only there was some sort of cat thread for stuff like this

~Thylo

Chlidonias · 3 Oct 2016

MoleRat said: ↑

Also occurs in the Somali subspecies (Panthera pardus nanopardus).
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I just had a look for that. The following link mentions it (and also has a photo of the Kerala leopard which this thread is about).
MUTANT LEOPARDS

In May 1936, the Natural History Museum exhibited the mounted skin of an unusual Somali leopard. The pelt was richly decorated with an intricate pattern of swirling stripes, blotches, curls and fine-line traceries. This was very different to the pattern of spotted leopard, but rather similar to the pattern of the King Cheetah. Some modern cryptozoologists refer to the specimen as a King Leopard. Between 1885 and 1934, six specimens of pseudo-melanistic leopards were recorded from the Albany and Grahamstown districts of South, indicating that the gene mutation was present in the local leopard population. Others have been recorded from Malabar in southwestern India. The human penchant for shooting unusually patterned leopards appears to have wiped out individuals that carried the mutation.
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King Leopard from India

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