A wildlife sanctuary in northeast India has been hiding a wonderful secret that was recently uncovered by a camera trap.<\/p>\n
The Sentinel<\/a> reported that a black panther has been spotted within the forest of Assam’s Manas National Park for the very first time. UNESCO recognizes the protected area at the foot of the Himalayas as a biodiversity hotspot<\/a>. It’s home to many endangered species, but until now, officials had no idea a panther was in their midst.<\/p>\n Dr. R. Baruah, a wildlife biologist connected to the park, told the outlet, “This is a monumental discovery.”<\/p>\n A black panther is not a separate species, but rather a melanistic jaguar or leopard. The former is found in the Americas, the latter in Africa and Asia. The agouti gene causes that jet black coat and occurs in around one in 10<\/a> big cats, per Panthera.<\/p>\n According to a 2022 report on the status of leopards in India, only 37<\/a> were estimated to reside in the Manas reserve. Seeing one leopard there is a treat; spotting a leopard with melanism is miraculous.<\/p>\n Leopards of all colors play a significant role in the ecosystem by controlling prey populations and preventing overgrazing. They are opportunistic hunters who rely on stealth rather than speed to take down prey, patiently lying in wait to ambush their next meal.<\/p>\n Unfortunately, they have lost about 75% of their historic range and are often victims of poaching. According to the International Fund for Animal Welfare, they sometimes come into conflict with people<\/a> because they are so adaptable.<\/p>\n Park officials at Manas are deploying more cameras in the hopes of learning more about this elusive resident.<\/p>\n The first-of-its-kind sighting demonstrates the value of a trail camera as a conservation tool. For example, a camera in Borneo picked up an even rarer big cat: a clouded leopard and her young. Similarly, a Vietnamese camera trap found the first evidence of a mouse deer in decades.<\/p>\n Observing wildlife without intruding on their habitats enables researchers to gain a deeper understanding of a species’ population and behavior, which in turn helps officials develop more effective local<\/a> conservation policies. Moreover, they can help to inform and inspire<\/a> the public.<\/p>\n As Dr. Baruah told the Sentinel, the sighting<\/a> “underscores the rich and often hidden biodiversity of this UNESCO World Heritage Site.”<\/p>\n Join our free newsletter<\/a> for good news and useful tips, and don’t miss this cool list<\/a> of easy ways to help yourself while helping the planet.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A wildlife sanctuary in northeast India has been hiding a wonderful secret that was recently uncovered by a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":153188,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[70297,54260,70298,70300,14756,70296,70302,70301,70299,90,56,47604,54,55,4407,47940,70303],"class_list":{"0":"post-153187","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wildlife","8":"tag-biodiversity-hotspot","9":"tag-black-panther","10":"tag-camera-trap","11":"tag-clouded-leopard","12":"tag-endangered-species","13":"tag-manas-national-park","14":"tag-northeast-india","15":"tag-park-officials","16":"tag-r-baruah","17":"tag-science","18":"tag-uk","19":"tag-unesco","20":"tag-united-kingdom","21":"tag-unitedkingdom","22":"tag-wildlife","23":"tag-wildlife-biologist","24":"tag-wildlife-sanctuary"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/153187","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=153187"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/153187\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/153188"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=153187"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=153187"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=153187"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}