The first time the pink newspaper was discovered

Scientists report a pink furry leopard living in the Madikwe sanctuary of South Africa.

African newspapers have dark colored fur and black dots. However, many tourists have seen the leopard pant when they visit the Madikwe sanctuary. They call it "strawberry newspaper" . Recently a guide in the reserve has taken a photo of the leopard and sent it to Panthera - an American cat-animal conservation organization - to ask them about the animal's unusual coat color, National Geographic reported.

The pink fur leopard in the reserve
Madikwe of South Africa. (Photo: National Geographic)

Mr. Luke Hunter, president of Panthera, said that the animal's pink color is the result of a genetic mutation that causes the body to produce too many red pigments or too little dark pigments.

"This is a very rare syndrome. I have not had any other case in the leopard," Hunter said.

The leopard was healthy and did not fear motor vehicles in the reserve. Although the leopard's fur is pink, it can still camouflage and hide to hunt. Because African newspapers lurking at relatively close range (minimum distance of 4m), coat color plays a role not so important for their ability to catch prey.

The color change phenomenon rarely occurs in predators, the scientific world has discovered many North American pandas, European badger and North American coyotes have unusual fur.