[The Guardian] A black panther at night (apparently) – Will Burrard-Lucas’s best photograph

A black panther at night (apparently) – Will Burrard-Lucas’s best photograph

‘It was an incredible moment. A black panther – that rare, almost invisible creature – photographed in the dark of night. I had no idea how the world would respond’

I’ve always loved leopards. They’re such elusive, special animals. When I was growing up, black leopards were on my radar. They’re ubiquitous in culture, from The Jungle Book to superheroes – and I thought the black panther was the coolest animal of all. But they’re incredibly rare in the wild, especially in Africa, where I spend most of my time. Photographing them was a dream but not one I thought would ever happen.

A black panther is essentially any melanistic big cat, melanism being a condition in which there’s an excess of dark pigment. The main cats that tend to exhibit this are leopards in Africa and Asia, and jaguars in South America. So a black panther in Africa is a black leopard. They’re an animal you hear about, or maybe a friend of a friend once saw one zipping across a road, but photos are so rare. I had never seen a good one.

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