You’ve heard of the black panther– a melanistic variation of typically rosette-covered, golden-furred leopard– however have you heard of a pink leopard? There have not been many sightings of rare “strawberry” leopards, but there have actually been a few encounters with these abnormally beautiful animals in nations like South Africa and India.
We still can’t get over a sighting from 2012 and a gorgeous photo of a male strawberry leopard taken by Deon De Villiers. De Villiers is a safari guide and professional photographer based in South Africa.
National Geographic reported that tourists in South Africa’s Madikwe Game Reserve had seen the distinct pink leopard before, but it wasn’t up until De Villiers took an image of the animal and sent it to some professionals to get more information about the leopard’s coloration that they truly understood how unique the animal is.
It’s possible this pink leopard (and others like it) have erythrism, which triggers abnormal redness in an animal’s fur, plumage, or skin.
In a throwback post, De Villiers said: “It’s been over seven years because this image and story broke the news, and word of this amazing Strawberry Leopard went viral. Because that, I have seen images of only 3 more individuals with this distinct colour variation!”
One sighting in 2021 remained in the Ranakpur region of India.
(Leopards live in both Africa and Asia. They’re similar to jaguars, which reside in Central and South America, with some crucial distinctions.)
Check out De Villiers’s photo of an unusual pink leopard in South Africa here:
How remarkable would it be to see this animal or another like it in the wild?
Have you heard of a pink leopard? There haven’t been numerous sightings of unusual “strawberry” leopards, but this one truly stuck to us.