?Wildlife photography takes immense patience and mostly luck and seems like things worked in this photographer's favour when he tried to capture an elusive couple of India's Kabini forest.?
Mithun H who captured this remarkable photo of a leopard and its black panther ¡°shadow" said it took 6 days to get this shot.
Mithun H was shooting in the Kabini Forest Reserve in Karnataka during winters, when according to his post on Instagram, 'a single Deer alarm led me to this breathtaking sight.'
'Saaya and Cleopatra have been courting since 4 years now and whenever they are together it¡¯s a sight to behold,' Mithun writes about the photo, which he titled The Eternal Couple.?
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'The forest comes alive as they trot nonchalantly in his fabled kingdom. Usually in the courting pairs generally it is the Male who takes charge and moves around with the female following close behind. But with this couple, it was definitely Cleo who was in charge while the Panther followed.'
Also Read:?Bagheera Is Real? Rare Black Panther, Darker Than The Color Of Night, Spotted Taking A Stroll
Mithun H is a wildlife photographer has worked with the National Geographic on the documentary The Real Black Panther which features the story of Saya.?
A days ago, wildlife photographer Shaaz Jung also spotted the elusive black panthet in Kabini. Social media has been abuzz for the last few days with images of a kingly black panther, Saya, which looked no less than the Jungle Book's Bagheera.?
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?Shaaz's Instagram posts on Saya, describing the royal black panther, reads, "The panther has been in Kabini in Nagarhole for the last five years. He was first spotted in 2015," Shaaz says. "I have spent nearly every day of the last two and a half years trying to shoot the panther, and I would be happy if I saw him once a week. One good picture a month would mean a lot to me,"?
Shaaz says. "We would be in a vehicle -- me, a forest guard and the driver. The thrill is baffling. It's not just the sightings but also the fact that you learn a lot about animal behaviour. These animals would never attack you, because they respect you and they understand the balance of nature. They are unlike us humans, who want to go out there and hunt everything," he adds.?
The pictures that have been going viral were taken by Shaaz between the end of 2017 and January 2020, while he was directing a National Geographic feature film called The Rare Black Panther. Shaaz and his team had a filming and research permit to go inside the park and gather footage of him.??
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