Journal of Threatened Taxa |
www.threatenedtaxa.org | 26 January 2021 | 13(1): 17513–17516
ISSN 0974-7907 (Online) | ISSN 0974-7893
(Print)
https://doi.org/10.11609/jott.6060.13.1.17513-17516
#6060 | Received 29 April 2020 | Final
received 31 December 2020 | Finally accepted 02 January 2021
The discovery of a melanistic
Leopard Panthera pardus
delacouri (Linnaeus, 1758) (Mammalia: Carnivora:
Felidae) at Bukit Kudung in Jeli,
Kelantan, Peninsular Malaysia: conservation and ecotourism
Kamarul Hambali
1, Nor Fakhira Muhamad Fazli
2, Aainaa Amir 3, Norashikin Fauzi 4 , Nor
Hizami Hassin 5 ,
Muhamad Azahar Abas 6, Muhammad Firdaus
Abdul Karim 7 & Ai Yin Sow 8
1–7 Faculty of Earth Science, Universiti Malaysia Kelantan, Jeli
Campus, 17600 Jeli, Kelantan, Malaysia.
8 Faculty of Agro-Based
Industry, Universiti Malaysia Kelantan, Jeli Campus, 17600 Jeli,
Kelantan, Malaysia.
1 kamarul@umk.edu.my (corresponding
author), 2 fakhira947@gmail.com, 3 syazwani@umk.edu.my, 4
ashikin@umk.edu.my,
5 hizami.h@umk.edu.my, 6 azahar.a@umk.edu.my,
7 firdaus.ak@umk.edu.my, 8 gsomaster87@gmail.com
Abstract: Sustainable development is
development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the
ability of future generations to meet their own needs. During a study near an ecotourism site,
we recorded a melanistic Leopard Panthera pardus delacouri on top of
Bukit Kudung in Jeli
District. This finding is considered
important because the Indochinese Leopard P.p. delacouri is classified as Critically Endangered in
the Red List of Threatened Species by the International Union for Conservation
of Nature (IUCN). We hope that this
record will foster conservation efforts in the area.
Keywords: Camera trapping, felid
conservation, Indochinese Leopard, melanism.
Editor: L.A.K.
Singh, Bhubaneswar, Odisha, India. Date
of publication: 26 January 2021 (online & print)
Citation: Hambali, K., N.F.M. Fazli,
A. Amir, N. Fauzi, N.H. Hassin,
M.A. Abas, M.F.A. Karim & A.Y. Sow (2021). The discovery of a
melanistic Leopard Panthera pardus delacouri (Linnaeus,
1758) (Mammalia: Carnivora: Felidae) at Bukit Kudung
in Jeli, Kelantan, Peninsular Malaysia: conservation
and ecotourism. Journal of Threatened Taxa 13(1): 17513–17516. https://doi.org/10.11609/jott.6060.13.1.17513-17516
Copyright: © Hambali
et al. 2021. Creative Commons Attribution
4.0 International License. JoTT allows unrestricted use, reproduction, and
distribution of this article in any medium by providing adequate credit to the
author(s) and the source of publication.
Funding: Universiti Malaysia Kelantan.
Competing interests: The authors
declare no competing interests.
Acknowledgements: We would like to thank the
following: the Department of Wildlife and National Parks (DWNP) for the
research permits; Norzahar Daud,
Muhammad Adib Khairul Bahar, Muhammad Fakhrul Imran
Mohamad Fizal, Nurul Eliani
Zainudin, Nurul Amalia Azlin,
Siti Amalina Muhammad Nor, and Atiyya
Hazwani Ramli for assistance in the field; Prof. Dr. Badrul Munir Md Zain for the constructive suggestions and
motivation; and the Faculty of Earth Science, Universiti
Malaysia Kelantan for providing the equipment and facilities throughout this
study.
The melanistic Leopard has been
recorded throughout Peninsular Malaysia (Azlan 2006;
Hedges et al. 2015). During camera trapping studies
conducted between 1996 and 2009 in southern Thailand and Peninsular Malaysia,
melanistic Leopards were recorded only south of the Isthmus of Kra, indicating a near fixation of melanism in Leopards in
this region (Kawanishi et al. 2010). Nine Leopards recorded in a wildlife corridor
in central Peninsular Malaysia were also melanistic (Hedges et al. 2015). Latter authors assumed that Peninsular
Malaysia is the only region in the world where the entire Leopard population
consists of melanistic morphs. Medway
(1983), however, also reported spotted Leopards in the region. Kawanishi et al.
(2010) referred to the presence of spotted Leopards in Endau Rompin National Park in the southern part of Peninsular
Malaysia. Tan et al. (2015) recorded two
spotted Leopards in Ulu Muda Forest Reserve in the northern state of
Kedah. Melanistic Leopards are most
common in tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests (da Silva et al.
2017).
From India, while reporting about
melanistic and other range of over 12 colour
variations in Panthera tigris,
Singh (1999) also mentioned about the black panthers, whom nature has possibly
given the way to favourable selection. Melanistic leopards were captured in camera
trap from the eastern state of Odisha in India during June 2014 (Anonymous
2015a) and 2018 (Palei et al. 2018). Mahabal et al.
(2019) have tabulated 45 instances of black or melanistic Leopard from India
starting with Buckland (1889) to Anonymous (2015b) and Sayyed & Mahabal (2015).
Melanism in the Leopard Panthera pardus delacouri is caused by a non-synonymous mutation in the
coding region of a gene that regulates the production of melanin, while keeping
black rosettes visible (Schneider et al. 2012).
According to da Silva et al. (2017), they demonstrate that this
distribution is non-random across the subspecies’ range, with the observed spatial
patterns significantly supporting an association with moist forests and a
decrease in frequency in open/dry habitats.
It has been suggested that melanism is an evolutionary response to
dipterocarp forest with a close canopy and low light levels (Kawanishi et al. 2010).
While these results support classical adaptive hypotheses, implying that
melanism in Leopards is influenced by natural selection related to habitat type
and moisture, several questions remain unanswered, such as the exact selective
mechanism in different areas.
In this article, we report a
melanistic Leopard near an ecotourism attraction in Jeli
District, Kelantan, Peninsular
Malaysia. It was recorded by camera
traps employed in autumn 2019. This
finding is expected to promote conservation efforts for the Leopard in Malaysia
and to enhance ecotourism in the area.
An education centre in the area may provide
exposure and awareness for tourists about the subspecies and the importance of
conserving them in their natural habitat.
Study area
Our research focused on
collecting terrestrial vertebrate data in Bukit Kudung,
Jeli District, Kelantan, Peninsular Malaysia from
October 2019 to December 2019 (Figure 1).
The study area is a hill dipterocarp forest with streams and rivers at
an elevation of 90–500 m. During the
camera trapping survey, there was no evidence of snares and human footprints
that indicated the presence of illegal hunting.
Material and Methods
In this
study, five camera traps units [Bushnell Natureview
HD Model 119436 and Browning Spec Ops Advantage Trail Camera] were installed
and left in selected areas where wildlife were expected to be present. The distance between any two camera traps was
about 257m. The camera traps were set to
one second interval between three consecutive images and were fitted with 8GB SD
secure digital card storage and 12 double AA batteries to ensure that they were
able to cope with this study period. The
strap of camera was properly tied with appropriate angle, and checked before
setting the feature. Possible stealing
away of cameras or their damage by wildlife were the risks in this study. The GPS location of each point had been taken
by using the Military Navigation application.
Results
From this study, 57 days of data
from the entire camera traps were collected and 1,254 images obtained. A melanistic Leopard was recorded by two
camera traps. One image was taken on 27
October 2019 at 07.04h (Image 1). Three
consecutive images show a melanistic Leopard on 11 November 2019 at 04.42h
(Image 2). The coordinates of the
findings are kept confidential to ensure the safety of the Leopard.
Discussion
The Indochinese Leopard has been
recorded in primary and secondary forests, tropical dry and moist deciduous
forests, evergreen and semi-evergreen forests, and also plantations
(Rostro-García et al. 2019). As such,
melanism has been proposed as an evolutionary reaction to acclimatize to
specific environments where pigment genes can allow melanistic types to better
adapt to green dipterocarp forest with a closed canopy and low light levels,
whereas spotted Leopards are ideally adapted for disguising in open field
environments (da Silva et al. 2017).
A geographical gradation is seen
with spotted, melanistic and black leopard in the distributional range of the
extant subspecies of Panthera pardus in their global distribution range. In India, it is possible that nature has
already given way to favourable selection of black panthers (Singh 1999: page 52–53),
and that the normal-spotted and black leopards have biologically settled for
togetherness, and genetically settled with comparable body features except for
the colour. Photographs of black and
melanistic leopards are time and again have been posted in social media during
2020. As pointed out by Singh (1999)
preponderance of black or melanistic large cats is an indication that the gene
pool for normal spotted or striped forms is changing fast.
The Indochinese Leopard is listed
as Critically Endangered (Rostro-García et al. 2019).
The population trend of the Leopard is decreasing in Peninsular Malaysia
because of high threats to its survival and habitat (Chew 2019). Dead Leopards have been seized from poachers
and wildlife traders (Lai 2013; Traffic 2013, 2014). In addition, habitat destruction caused by
development of infrastructure especially in rural areas also plays a role in
the decline of the population.
The discovery of a melanistic
Leopard in Bukit Kudung emphasizes the importance of
this location as a conservation area.
Today, Bukit Kudung, has been developed into
an ecotourism destination known as Lalang’s Chalet and Campsite. Governmental and non-governmental
organizations need to cooperate in ensuring the safety of the Leopard population
in the area. Among the forms of
recommendations and joint measures that can be highlighted is establishing an
area learning centre and also gazette the area as a
wildlife protected area. The location of this study area has the potential to
act as an important wildlife corridor connecting the forests of Thailand (Hala-Bala Wildlife Santuary) and Jeli Permanent Forest Reserve. Members of the near-by Faculty of Earth
Sciences of Universiti Malaysia Kelantan should play
a vital role in raising the awareness of visitors about the necessity of normal
gene pool and biodiversity conservation.
For
figure & images - - click here
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