IUCN / SSC Cat Specialist Group - Digital Cat Library |
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| Hauxwell, T.A. | |
| Melanism amongst panthers | |
| 1904 Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society (15): 723-723 | |
I do not know if the information is of any value beyond being corroborative, but on 20th March, some forest employ‚s working in the forests near Hopin in the Bhamo District of Upper Burma came upon a black female leopard with cubs in a large hollow tree. They returned to camp and came out with an elephant, which scared the mother leopard and she bolted. The men were then able to secure the cubs, one of which was black, while the other was the ordinary spotted yellow kind. The latter died, but the black one is alive and doing well, and I propose to take him home next month for the London Zoo. This seems to make it perfectly clear that the black leopard is only a freak. The cub I now have has a number of solitary white hairs all over the body and legs, and the whiskers are pure white. In certain lights the ordinary leopard spots can be distinctly seen, being jet black on a muddy black fur. I hope to watch the development of colour. |
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