First Sighting in 100 Years – Extremely Rare and Beautiful Black Leopard Photographed in Africa

Leopards are part of Africa’s diverse wildlife, but black leopards, a result of melanism (an over abundance of black pigment) are extremely rare, with the last confirmed sighting being over 100 years ago. By nature, the leopard is nocturnal and hard to spot, let alone capture well in pictures.

So beautifully capturing images of a jet black, elusive wild cat is like finding a winning lottery ticket.

Kenya-based biologist Nick Pilfold heard that the rare black cat might be in the area, and set up a number of camera traps, in hopes of getting a glimpse. What he got were some truly beautiful images of the female leopard, quietly stalking the grasslands at night.

We think this basically qualifies as a portrait of the rare and beautiful cat. Stunning.

Read more about the discovery on National Geographic.