Earlier this month, rare images of a black panther roaming around in Karnataka’s Kabini Forest Reserve, went viral on social media.
Shot by wildlife photographer Shaaz Jung, images of the majestic animal, Saya, reminded people of Bagheera from The Jungle Book.
Now, another wildlife photographer, Mithun H, has released two pictures of Saya with a leopard, Cleopatra.
The couple according to Mithun H have been together for 4 years now. In his Instagram post, he wrote:
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.
Mithun was apparently shooting in the forest during winters when he witnessed this rare and eternal sight.
Talking to PetaPixel, Mithun said that it took him 6 days to capture the moment. He specializes in tracking big cats, and has previously worked on the show The Real Black Panther for Nat Geo Wild.
Rare and beautiful, the sight of the couple is making netizens go, ‘Wow’.
You can see more of Mithun H’s photography here.