Photographer Captures A Rare Leopard With Two Different Eye Colours In Bandipur

A photographer capturs rare picture of a leopard with two different eye colours in the Bandipur Tiger Reserve in Karnataka. The leopard was ed by wildlife photographer Dhruv Patil, a member of the Karnataka State Wildlife Board.

During a safari in Bandipur, Mr. Patil spotted an old female leopard perched on a tree and took her photograph. Upon reviewing the images later, he discovered that the leopard had two distinctly different-colored eyes one bluish green and the other brown.

IAS officer Supriya Sahu, shared an image of the leopard on social media platform X (formerly Twitter) on Saturday.

"Beware! The eyes of this leopard will hypnotise you. In a first documentation of its kind in India, a leopard with two different coloured eyes has been photographed in Bandipur Tiger Reserve by Dhruv Patil. How incredible! Heterochromia Iridum is a very rare genetic mutation which causes each of the two eyes to have a different colour." she wrote. 

Dhruv Patil thanked her, while Supriya Sahu called it a "brilliant capture".

What is Heterochromia iridum?

Heterochromia iridum, or simply Heterochromia, is a rare genetic mutation wherein the irises are of two different colours. This phenomenon reportedly has not yet been documented in a big cat in India.

According to the American Academy of Ophthalmology, heterochromia can be categorized into several types.

Complete heterochromia is when one iris is a different color from the other. Partial heterochromia involves a segment of the iris being a different color from the rest. 

Central heterochromia features an inner ring of the iris that is a different color from the outer portion.

The viral photograph of the leopard in Bandipur Tiger Reserve drew reactions on social media. "Very intense," one user wrote. Another one added, "What a rare capture. Credit to man behind the camera"