Tour guide spots incredibly rare ‘strawberry’ leopard cub in South Africa, photos show
While visiting a nature reserve in South Africa, a wildlife guide spotted a pair of leopard cubs — and found a very rare “strawberry” leopard. Photos show the “amazing” animal.
Ian Ferreira, a tour guide with St. Lucia Birding Tours, was driving through iSimangaliso Wetland Park when he noticed a pair of leopard cubs ahead of him on the road, he told the South African news outlet Independent Online.
“One (of the cubs) was so pale and tawny coloured that from a distance, it looked like a lion cub,” Ferreira told the outlet.
As Ferreira approached, he realized the pale cub was “a rare ‘strawberry’ leopard,” according to a Nov. 8 Facebook post. Photos show the leopard’s “unusual” pink-hued coloring.
Normally, leopards have a brown coat with black spots. This cub, however, had a cream coat with reddish brown spots and pink undertones.
The “strawberry” leopard cub is likely the result of “a genetic mutation called erythrism which causes an absence of normal dark pigment and/or excessive production of red pigment,” Ferreira wrote in an Instagram post.
“Strawberry” leopards, also called erythristic leopards, are incredibly rare.
A three-year-long study of leopards in South Africa found the “strawberry” coloring in only two of the 28 animals recorded. The study, published in 2016 in the journal Bothalia African Biodiversity and Conservation, concluded that “strawberry” leopards are “exceptionally rare in the wild.”
Erythristic leopards spotted in the past did not appear to face the same survival challenges that white-colored albino animals commonly face, National Geographic reported in 2012.
Adult “strawberry” leopards have been photographed at different sites in South Africa, first in 2012 and again in 2019. Black Leopard Mountain Lodge shared photos of the 2019 sighting on Facebook.
Ferreira described his encounter as an “amazing sighting” and a “pretty special find” for iSimangaliso Wetland Park.
Eventually, the pair of cubs ran off into the forest, Ferreira told the Independent Online.
Ferreiro did not immediately respond to McClatchy News’ Nov. 21 request for comment.
The iSimangaliso Wetland Park is a nature reserve on the eastern coast of South Africa, about 300 miles southeast of Johannesburg.
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