Assam CM posts black panther video

Himanta Biswa Sarma posted a short video on X on May 15 showing a black panther moving through Manas National Park in Assam. The Assam chief minister’s post said the footage was from Manas, a protected area on India’s border with Bhutan. The clip shows the animal walking along a strip of grassland near thicker tree cover, consistent with the park’s mosaic of alluvial grasslands and tropical forest. X’s public page for the post was not fully readable through browser tools, but multiple local reports published earlier and this year described black panther sightings from Manas and attributed them to forest staff footage or monitoring images. ### What exactly did Sarma post on May 15? May 15 is the date attached to the chief minister’s X post referenced in the card material, and the post contains a short wildlife clip from Manas National Park. The video shows a dark-coated big cat moving at the edge of open ground and wooded cover, with no people visible in the frame. Himanta Biswa Sarma’s account has previously been used to share wildlife footage and park-related updates from Assam. (x.com) In this case, the post circulated a sighting that local outlets and wildlife-focused reports have described as unusual because melanistic leopards are rarely seen in the open. ### Is the animal a separate species or a leopard with melanism? (x.com) Sunit Kumar Das, identified by ETV Bharat as a tiger expert and coordinator for the World Wide Fund for Nature, said a black panther is not a separate species. He said the animal is an Indian leopard with melanism, a genetic condition that produces a much darker coat, while the underlying rosette pattern can still appear under certain light. (x.com) April 29 reporting by ETV Bharat said the recent Manas sighting had drawn the attention of researchers, tourists and conservation officials. The same report said forest officials were restricting vehicle movement and human access in some frequently visited areas while gathering more information and trying to capture further photographic evidence. (etvbharat.com) ### Why does Manas keep appearing in reports about black panthers? Manas Wildlife Sanctuary is a UNESCO World Heritage site in Assam covering 39,100 hectares, according to UNESCO’s listing. UNESCO says the sanctuary lies in a biodiversity hotspot, spans the Manas river and includes alluvial grasslands and tropical forests at the foothills of the Himalayas. UNESCO documents also say the wider protected area was expanded and designated as Manas National Park in 1990, and that it forms the core area of the Manas Tiger Reserve. (etvbharat.com) Those habitat details match the kind of edge terrain visible in the video clip shared by Sarma. ### Have there been earlier black panther sightings in Manas? September 2025 reporting by The Sentinel described what it called a first recorded sighting of a melanistic leopard in Manas National Park, captured by forest officials during wildlife monitoring patrols. (whc.unesco.org) The report said officials increased camera-trap coverage after that sighting to learn more about the animal’s range and behavior. (whc.unesco.org) June 2025 reporting by Guwahati Plus said Assam Forest Minister Chandra Mohan Patowary had also posted about a black panther from Manas on X. That account included a still or clip of a dark-coated cat in the park and showed that sightings from Manas had already entered public circulation before Sarma’s May 15 post. (sentinelassam.com) ### What have officials and experts said about conditions in the park? Jesim Ahmed, identified by ETV Bharat as Officer on Special Duty of Manas National Park, said the black panther had been seen moving toward nearby tea gardens in the early morning before returning to base areas by around 8 a.m. He said locals had also reported the animal climbing trees in tea garden areas. (guwahatiplus.com) UNESCO’s latest decision page on Manas said tiger numbers in the property have been increasing since 2006 and noted continued anti-poaching work and species monitoring. The same document said reintroduction work for pygmy hogs was continuing and asked India to keep reporting on long-term monitoring of key species. May 15 remains the key public marker for this latest clip because that is when Sarma posted it on X. (etvbharat.com) Further confirmation is likely to come from Assam forest officials or additional camera-trap releases from Manas, where monitoring and access controls were already under way as of the April 29 ETV Bharat report. (x.com) (whc.unesco.org)