A video of a rare black panther spotted in Madhya Pradesh's Pench Tiger Reserve has gone viral on social media. The video was shared by the official Twitter handle of Pench Tiger Reserve recently.
"Black Panther Pench Forever. All across the world usually it takes months, sometimes even years to sight a rare animal, however in Pench one can sight the wonders of natural world much more frequently," the caption of the video read.
In the video, a black panther can be seen crossing a road in the tiger reserve as tourists on safari vehicles watch the majestic big cat from a distance.
The video has already garnered nearly 20,000 views and more than a thousand likes since being shared. Several users have reacted to video, with many likenening it to Bagheera from "The Jungle Book".
"Bagerra is back," wrote one user. Another user commented, "Wow... rare sighting in broad daylight." "Must have been a sight to behold," a third user wrote while sharing the post.
In May, a black panther was spotted in the Bhagwan Mahaveer Sanctuary and Mollem National Park, South Goa. Goa Forest Minister Vishwajit Rane tweeted a picture of the panther.
"An amazing sighting of the Black Panther captured at Mollem through the camera trap. I have asked the Forest Department to keep track and monitor movements of the Black Panther. We shall be putting up more camera traps for his thorough movement," the minister had tweeted.
In May 2020, a black panther was spotted in Netravali wildlife sanctuary in South Goa.
In 2019, photos of a jet black panther roaming in the forests in Kabini, Karnataka, had gone viral. In 2021, a close encounter between a black panther and a leopard was recorded on camera at the Kabini wildlife sanctuary in Karnataka.
The video was shared on Twitter by Nandan Nilekani, co-founder of Infosys. The video shows the leopard and the black panther sitting on the higher branches of a tree.