Black Panther

I thought that the first post must be about the animal this blog is named after, thus behold, The Black Panther! No, I am not talking about the Marvel comic character from Wakanda but the 'Real' Black Panther which is definitely way cooler. So, when you say that you saw a Black Panther, strictly scientifically speaking, it could be a black panther, a black jaguar, a black cougar even a black tiger. What i mean to say is that a black panther is typically a melanistic color variant of any of the several big cat species. Unfortunately, you do not find a jaguar or a cougar in India so if you see a big black cat in front of you, it is likely going to be a black tiger. However, if you were ambushed by one, then it is probably going to be a black leopard, viz my favorite animal, Black Panther!

In India, these beauties are found mostly in Assam, Travancore and other parts of southern India. Though, this doesn't mean that somewhere a normal leopard mom won't give birth to a melanistic cub which will grow into   this majestic creature. Having said that, these animals, like their normal yellow-coat-black-spotted brothers are silent hunters and masters of ambush. Fur color is a mixture of blue, black, gray, and purple which makes them even more formidable predators than normal brothers at night. And so, they are aptly referred to as 'Ghost of the Hills' by the natives.

A black panther’s size varies greatly according to where it lives and what it eats.  In general, black panthers which feed on larger prey are bigger than those which feed on smaller prey, and black panthers living in open areas are larger than those living in forests.

Black leopards are the smallest members of the big cat family in terms of both sizeand weight.  They weigh anywhere from 65 to 200 pounds (29 to 91 kg) and range in length from three to seven feet (0.9 to 2.1 m), not including tails, which are about two to three feet (0.6 to 0.9 m) long.  The average adult black leopard stands two feet high at the shoulder.  A female black leopard is usually about a half to two-thirds the size of its male counterpart. Black Cougars and Jaguars are usually much bigger.

Weapons of Prey Destruction and Tactics:

• Tough they aren't the biggest of cats, but with well-muscled bodies, powerful limbs, and broad paws, they are the Super Athletes of the animal kingdom. With a speed of over 72kmph and jump distance of 6 m that too 3m high, these Ninjas can easily maul preys heavier and larger than themselves.
• They can climb trees for self defense against bigger predators or for setting ambushes for its prey. Their long, thick tail serves many purpose, one of which is to balance the body. This enables the panther to walk easily on a branch of a tree like a tightrope walker we see in circus.
• They are also good swimmers.
• Their retractable claws serve various purposes. While running, walking, stalking the panthers retract their claws. When, they get close enough to their prey and ready to pounce, they unsheathe their hidden blades and finish off their prey by simply grabbing the victim at the thorat with them.

Recent sighting:

In March 2011, a black Panther was sighted by the 'Vivekananda Environment Awareness Brigade' volunteers in the small hours on Sungay at Keri-Sattari, Goa-Karnataka border in Chorla Ghat are.

A volunteer of the environment brigade Deepak Gawas said “As we were returning, at the turn near to the wilder nest Resort, in Charavane, we came across the Black Panther gradually crossing the road and it jumped in to the nearby jungle.”

Apart from India, they are found in southwestern China, Myanmar, Nepal, Java, southern part of the Malay Peninsula( here spotted leopards are a rare sighting as compared to black leopards). In Africa, they have been reported in Ethiopia,Mount Kenya, Aberdares.

Here, I conclude this post with a video of rare sighting of a pair of black panthers in their natural habitat.

Introduction

Hello people,

This blog's main objective is to give the reader a short but gripping account of the awesome animals inhabiting the jungles of India. India is really blessed as far as biodiversity is concerned, from the snow leopards in the Himalayas to the fresh water dolphins in Ganga, we have it all! However, due to various reasons, ( human encraochment, illegal poching, pollution ,etc ) numbers of these animals are decreasing by the day. Indian Cheetahs, that once dominated the forests of Madhya Pradesh were removed from the face of the country in 1947 due to excessive hunting by the colonial British officers and the Indian nobility. Most of the species including our national animal, the Royal Bengal Tiger, are too considered endangered. Whether to turn a blind eye to our animal brethren and let them suffer the same fate as the Indian Cheetah or to try and make a difference is entirely in our hands.

Having read the first para, most of the readers will think, 'But why fight for something you don't know much about?' This is where this blog comes in. The main purpose of this blog is to impart as much info as required for the reader to think the problems faced by these awesome animals as their own and do something , no matter how little, in the fight to prevent them from total extinction.