Gazelle : The Palestinian Biological Bulletin (ISSN 0178 – 6288) . Number 108, December 2013, pp. 26-42. | Page 2

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African leopards (Panthera pardus) normally have tawny coats with black spots.
But a male leopard with a strawberry-colored coat has been spotted in South
Africa's Madikwe Game Reserve in April 2012 (Dell'Amore, National Geographic
Daily News, 2012).
Tourists in the reserve had occasionally seen the unusual animal. But it wasn't
until recently that photographer and safari guide Deon De Villiers sent a
photograph to experts at Panthera, a U.S.-based wild cat-conservation group, to
ask them about the leopard's odd coloration (Dell'Amore, National Geographic
Daily News, 2012).
Panthera President Luke Hunter suspects the pale leopard has erythrism, a littleunderstood genetic condition that's thought to cause either an overproduction of
red pigments or an underproduction of dark pigments. "It's really rare—I don't
know of another credible example in leopards," said Hunter, whose group
collaborates with National Geographic's Big Cats Initiative. (The Society owns
National Geographic News.)
Hunter added, "It’s surprising that [a photo of the leopard] didn't come out
sooner, because he's relatively used to vehicles." (Dell'Amore, National
Geographic Daily News, 2012).

Red leopard from collection of Mirko Wölfling (University of Würzburg). It is believed
this specimen came from a zoo and the red colour is due to the recessive form of the
extension gene, not to taxidermy fading. http://www.messybeast.com/genetics/mutantleopards.html

Gazelle : The Palestinian Biological Bulletin – Number 108 – December 2013