Bhubaneswar, Nov 29: A melanistic leopard has been spotted in Odisha forest again, informed Susanta Nanda, the Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (PCCF) today.
Nanda has shared the picture of the majestic animal on X handle. However, the exact location and other details about the Melanistic leopard is yet to be known.
Forest officials said that Odisha is the only state to have melanistic tigers both in the wild and in captivity. Melanstic tiger was first reported in 1993 in Similipal Tiger Reserve and later, a carcass was found in the same year. The first photographic evidence to supplement presence of melanistic tiger in Similipal was captured in 2007.
Nandankanan zoo in the state capital which shot in to headlines in 1980 when white tigers were born to normal colour parents had again hogged the limelight in July, 2014 when two melanistic tigers were born in captive.
