Ghost of the Forest: Nepal's Rare Black Panther Draws Crowds After 30 Years

Rescued from the Illam district in eastern Nepal on September 2, the black panther has been on display since Wednesday.

"We kept it (Black Panther) on display from 12 November. After rescuing it, we kept it in quarantine for some time. As there were no serious injuries, general medication was given, and we studied its food preference. As things became normal, we shifted it to the exhibit, which has been built for it and is spacious as well," Ashok Subedi, Senior Curator at the Central Zoo in Lalitpur, told ANI.

The black panther, however, is not a separate species. It is a common leopard whose coat appears completely black due to a genetic mutation known as melanism, which causes an excess production of the pigment melanin, making its dark spots blend. Such black leopards are extremely rare in the wild.

"It is a three-year-old female black panther. We have rescued it from Illam district. It is not the common type of leopard that we usually get to see. Recently we also had rescued a common leopard from the Swiss Embassy in Kathmandu. After a long gap, this black panther has been brought to the central zoo," Subedi added.

Previously, the national zoo of the Himalayan nation had another black panther rescued from Okharpauwa, Nuwakot, on May 27, 1996, but it died less than two weeks later. Its taxidermy is now on display at the Central Zoo in Kathmandu.

The new black panther has made a comeback after nearly three decades and has already begun to attract visitors.

"This is the first time that I am seeing something, this species of cat, and I feel that it is the most mesmerising thing that I have ever witnessed. I was really hoping to see something like this, the black panther in the zoo. I was really captivated and it blew my mind actually," Nischal Raj Gautam, one of the visitors to the Central Zoo, told ANI.

Leopards are seen from time to time at various locations around the Kathmandu Valley. A 2024 study published by the Central Department of Zoology, titled Remarkable Observations of Melanistic Leopard (Panthera pardus pardus) in Nepal, documented five verified sightings near the valley.

Kathmandu Valley is ringed by forested hills, home to various species, including the common leopard, which can, on rare occasions, turn melanistic. A thorough and focused study is now needed not just to document these rare black leopards but to develop conservation strategies for apex predators in Kathmandu and surrounding areas as they navigate fragmented and changing landscapes.

- ANI