Ladies and Gentlemen

Here in the UK the BBC has just launched a new series on African Wildlife. It is very very well produced. Last week the theme was mountains. Tomorrow nights programme is about the wildlife of the savannah. Can�t wait.

On last weeks programme there was quite a bit about the Aberdares range to the west of Mount Kenya. I did a bit of trekking over the Aberdares (and had close scrapes with lion and elephant but that�s another story) ten years ago. The programme stated that there is a large population of Black Panther in that area. The programme went on to state that Black Panther is pretty much a leopard with a black pelt. Apparently the Black Panther does well in the cold climate of equatorial Kenya (at 4000 metres above sea level) as in absorbs heat better than a normal leopard.

I wondered if anyone had any hunting experience of the Black Panther. They looked stunning.

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Regards

Richard

The black panther is just a black leopard in africa. In south america is is just a black jaguar. Never less a fantistic animal.

It is a gene pool thing...actually you can see spots on close inspection on most of them.

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Ray Atkinson

ray@atkinsonhunting.com
atkinsonhunting.com

Richard,

Lion & elephant stories? Do tell!

Cheers,
Eric.

If there are black leopards in the Aberdares, it's not becuase of an acclimation to the cold at high elevation. It's just a gene pool. Ethyopia(sp) is the only place I have heard of in Africa where black leopards are known to exist forsure. The vast majority of black leopards you see in the zoos are from India and southeast Asia where they are common.

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Deerdogs:
Hi Deerdogs,
When I was at the Safari Club Convention in Vegas there was one exhibitor with a black leopard mounted beside another cat and it was very impresive looking. I took a picture of the mounts but I'm not sure how to post it.
470 Mbogo

JK,

When hunting reopened in Ethiopia in the early 80's there were over 750 confiscated (poached) leopard hides in storage in the Ethiopina Game department warehouse in Addis Ababa. 20 % were black. This same ratio holds true for both the SW forest areas and the lower areas of the Arrusi and Bale Mt's.
We have one or two safris per year from Europeans strictly for Black leopard.
Rich Elliott

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Ethiopian Rift Valley Safaris

Dammit, Rich, what's the rock bottom price on an Ethiopian safari? You're driving my underpaid soul crazy with black leopards, Nile buff, lesser kudu, aaarrrgh!
Sarge