Sunderbans Diary Oct-13

[Vipin Sharma]

Saw this well camouflaged female spotted deer alone in a dense bush of Sunderbans habitant. It is indeed very hard to spot them in such a dense forest , unless you really have eagles eyes to spot them.
AV(priority) - 7.1 , TV - 1/250 , ISO - 800 , Canon 7D , lens 150-500mm.

[Saktipada Panigrahi]

Nice image in the mystic mangrove. Thanks for sharing.SaktiWild


P.S.: You will all be happy to learn that a few days back Two Black Leopard Cats have been photographed in camera traps in northern part of the Sundarbans. Possibly first time in India. Studies are in progress.

[Debasis Bose]

Lovely. Whenever, see images from Sunderbans, I get nostalgic.

Hello Saktida, I had read sometime in 2012, second quarter, about the black or melanistic form of the leopard cat that have never been recorded before. A small black cat resembling a leopard cat may possibly be with a mutated coat colour gene, something unknown to science, or simply a skinny black domestic cat. This is probably why Zoologist / Scientists were excited as to how many of such cats exists or if it is a genetic mutation or a new species. In my knowledge no further article or wrtie up has been published. In case if you are aware of something new after April / May 2012, I would appreciate if you can share. Regards Debasis

[Saktipada Panigrahi]

Bhai Debasis,
I have quoted from the News item published in Bengali 'Sambad Pratidin' on 28-December-2013. The article has been contributed by Shri Debabrata Mondal supported by a beautiful image of the Cat with mangrove all around. The photograph has been taken by WWF using camera trap method. The report stated that the first photograph ONE cat was captured in AJMALMARI R.F in the night. After a few days the second photograph was captured in the same forest at a distance of about 6 km, but this time TWO cats together at close range. But dates have not been mentioned, only report stated that 'from last February WWF has been counting tigers using camera trap method, and while doing so these rare images have been captured.

I have seen the Hidusthan Times and TOI news item published earlier in early 2013 and during 2012 respectively on Melanistic Leopard Cat in the Sundarbans.

While looking at the lovely image of the cat walking through the mangrove, I find the upper part of the body is black(ish) from forehead to tail end; the chest, belly, underparts broadly white with black and white spots and stripes. The tail is quite long almost more than one-half of the size of the body and very thick, may be furry. Frontal portion of the face is white. Inside colour of the ears is white.

The report stated that the height is one and a half feet from the ground. When it stands on the hind legs, height reaches at three feet. Very agile. Such specimen has not been seen elsewhere in the country.

Kind regards,
SaktiWild

[Debasis Bose]

Dear Saktida,
Thank you for the interesting information and is very encouraging too. Wish you and all the members of Indiawilds "Fabulous and Healthy New Year 2014". Regards,
Debasis