Indian Leopard (Panthera pardus fusca)

[Sanju]

These are our Kambalakonda's Urban Leopards...

Kambalakonda is a small sanctuary in eastern ghats with about 70 km2 area interlocked from all sides with human as it is in a city only, forests near are Odisha forests very very very far from this WLS. Obviously every animal in this forest are inbreeding. It is It is said to be the lungs of this metropolis "Visakhapatnam" city or co2 sink of the city.

Leopards are known to be most adaptable of all big cats. They inhabit concrete jungles of Mumbai, breed in sugarcane fields and can survive by preying on dung beetles!

They are known to come out into towns/cities during night time to catch stray pigs and dogs. Undetected, they go into forest patches before sunrise. As their habitat is shrinking, they are coming to human habitations frequently. But they also learnt how to live alongside with humans in urban areas.

We also have urban leopards in Visakhapatnam city on Simhachalam hill, Kambalakonda wildlife sanctuary and Marikavalsa hills. There are no attacks on humans from past few years.

It's upto to us whether we like to survive alongside with these majestic predators.

And we should be telling to other cities that "This is Vizag, and we look after our urban wildlife".

Photos of Mumbai leopards by: Steve Winter Photography

*This image is copyright of its original author

*This image is copyright of its original author

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