Wildlife News from across the world
Posted in Wildlife A-Z | May 22, 2012 | Comment NowThere are lot of things happening across the world and these events contribute a lot to the way the things are changing in this arena. For example there is this news that Sunderbans has revealed a lot of mysteries. In between the depths of the mangroves of this lovely region, there is a kind of feline existence. This is the melanistic leopard black cat. This was captured on camera outside the main area. The excitement is over and there are many cats in the Sunderbans and this is indeed a new species.
There are two photos that have been taken. This is the first time that such a kind of species has been discovered in this part of the world. This is a rare occasion for all the scientists of wildlife who have considered it a eureka moment in this arena. This is a mammalian species which is the latest find. There was a report of this event of a feline cat having been founded. The forest officials of the forests of Bengal sent pictures of the cat to the Wildlife Institute of India. They said that there was a leopard cat which is of the melanistic kind. Such a species has never been found before according to the Sunderbans Biosphere Reserve officials.
This is a cat which has never been spotted before. It has been captured in the camera for the world to see. This is a species that has been identified as a rare cat and it is very difficult. But the scientists here have finally taken a decision to go ahead with the melanistic leopard cat being. They have laid traps with camera within the main area of the Sunderbans which helps us to gather if the species is common here or not.
There is a senior member belonging to the International Union for the Conservation of the Nature Cat group of specialists had not found the species earlier. Then the forest department sent the photos to the Wildlife Authorities. The cat was found in the traps laid by the camera specialists in the district of Raigad and this is a little bigger than the wild cat. But it is not as big as the leopard. The sources say that there has never been the sighting of any other animal like in the regions of the Sunderbans. Apart from the cats and the 18 tigers that are found here, there are also many fishing or jungle cats which were found in the camera exercise. It was done outside the vicinity of the jungle reserve for the first time. Many of them are expected to be sighted still and they came upon the sightings of the black cat this February.
But the wildlife authorities say that the identification process was not very easy. The tail was what is the crucial part and it helped in identifying the entire thing. It was thought that this was a melanistic fishing cat or a marbled cat. There were many other discussions with the help of carnivore experts who would help to identify the cat as a black leopard cat.
There was a fishing cat’s tail that can be one third of the length of the body. The leopard’s tail is half the length of the body. As one goes deeper in the forests of the Sunderbans, the camera has captured at least 18 Bengal tigers and then the photo of this melanistic cat is a major discover. For all the wildlife enthusiasts and nature lovers, the conservation lists and the environment lovers, the spotting of this wild cat is a great moment.
It was a chance discovery that helped the forest officers to scan through pictures and they stopped in their tracks when they came across a small creature with a long tail. This is something that has not been seen in so many years of exploration and documentation as seen in the Sunderbans.
Sunderbans is the only reserve for tigers in the Indian subcontinent where leopards have never been sighted. There are some sightings as reported in the Bangladeshi site. The black cat that has been seen in the camera is bigger than a normal cat and smaller than a leopard thus making it a very unique sight for all the wildlife enthusiasts. This is a real rare sight in this part of the world in Sunderbans.
There are two genes which show whether the animals would be yellow with black or totally black. The Black Panther gets its colour from the recessive black gene. So the wildlife experts reiterate that they have never seen any animal like this here in Sunderbans.
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