RARE RECORD OF HETEROCHROMIA IRIDUM IN LEOPARD CAT PRIONAILURUS BENGALENSIS BENGALENSIS IN SUNDARBAN NATIONAL PARK, WEST BENGAL, INDIA

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MISCELLANEOUS NOTES
Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society, 118(1), Jan–Apr 2021 74–98
1. RARE RECORD OF HETEROCHROMIA IRIDUM IN LEOPARD CAT
PRIONAILURUS BENGALENSIS BENGALENSIS IN SUNDARBAN NATIONAL PARK,
WEST BENGAL, INDIA1
Soumya Ranjan BhattachaRyya2,4,* and anuj d. Raina3,5
1Accepted August 19, 2020
First published: April 30, 2021 | doi: 10.17087/jbnhs/2021/v118/153367
2Department of Physics, Suri Vidyasagar College, Suri P.O., Birbhum 731 101, West Bengal, India.
3M-1203, Godrej Tivoli, Godrej Garden City, Jagatpur, Ahmedabad 382 470, Gujarat, India.
4Email: soumyaranjan1981@gmail.com
5Email: anzraina@gmail.com
*Corresponding author
Sundarban National Park is home to four wild cat
species, including Indian Tiger Panthera tigris tigris,
Leopard Cat Prionailurus bengalensis bengalensis, Fishing
Cat Prionailurus viverrinus, and Jungle Cat Felis chaus. In
Sundarban, leopard cats have adapted well to the mangrove
forest habitat, and like most mammals they are excellent
swimmers (Pocock 1917). Sighting of Prionailurus
bengalensis bengalensis in the dense mangrove habitats of
Sundarban is difcult. Only with great persistence can one
encounter the cat, that too during low tide when it comes to
the drawdown area where there is no vegetation.
On January 17, 2020 at c. 10:18 hrs while travelling by
motor launch, the rst author spotted and photographed the
cat while it was foraging in the drawdown area (Fig. 1).
On closely observing the photograph, we noticed that
the leopard cat had variation in eye coloration, possibly a
case of Heterochromia iridum or Heterochromia iridis in its
left eye. The right iris was a normal deep golden brown to
greyish colour tone, whereas the left eye had a blue colour
tone. A feline with heterochromia is generally termed as an
odd-eye cat. Heterochromia is subdivided into three forms:
complete heterochromia, sectoral heterochromia, and central
heterochromia (Chomdej et al. 2018). The difference in eye
coloration in heterochromia may be acquired (accident,
disease, or drug reaction) or congenital (Imesch et al. 1997).
The Leopard Cat photographed has complete heterochromia,
as the two irises are completely different in colour.
The odd-eye cat is not considered rare in domestic cats,
but it appears to be unusual in wild Leopard Cat, as we could
not nd any published report of this phenomenon. However,
a photographic record from Sundarban dated April 14,
2020 is available at: https://www.istockphoto.com/photo/a-
wild-leopard-cat-with-heterochromia-iridum-syndrome-
sitting-alert-in-between-the-gm1216940442-355028405
© Shweta Shah.
REFERENCES
chomdej, S., P. LeeLawattanaku L, k. Buddhachat, w. PRadit, P. Siengdee, k. PhongRooP & k. nganvo ngPanit (2018): Preliminary study
on association of EDNRB gene with heterochromia iridis in cats (Felis catus). Kafkas Univ Vet Fak Derg 24(6): 853–858. doi: 10.9775/
kvfd.2018.20082
imeSch, P.d., i.h.L. waLLow & d.m. aLBeRt (1997): The color of the human eye: A review of morphologic correlates and of some conditions that
affect iridial pigmentation. Surv. Ophthalmol. 41: S117–S12. doi: 10.1016/ S0039-6257(97)80018-5.
Pocock, R.i. (1917): The classication of existing Felidae. Annals and Magazine of Natural History 8: 329–350.
Fig. 1: Leopard Cat with Heterochromia iridum, captured in
Sundarban on January 17, 2020

75
MISCELLANEOUS NOTES
J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc., 118(1), Jan–Apr 2021
2. SIGHTING OF BLACK FORM OF TIBETAN WOLF CANIS LUPUS CHANCO
IN CHANGTHANG WILDLIFE SANCTUARY, LADAKH, INDIA1
khuRSheed ahmad2,4,*, PaRag nigam3, mohd Raza2,5 and anzaRa anjum khan2,6
1Accepted August 07, 2020
First published: April 30, 2021 | doi: 10.17087/jbnhs/2021/v118/153156
2Division of Wildlife Sciences, Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences & Technology of Kashmir (SKUAST-Kashmir),
Shalimar 190 025, Srinagar, Jammu & Kashmir.
3Department of Wildlife Health Management, Wildlife Institute of India (WII), Chandrabani, Dehradun 248 001, Uttarakhand, India.
Email: nigamp@wii.gov.in
4Email: khursheed47@gmail.com
5Email: razapodrigs@gmail.com
6Email: anzaraa@gmail.com
*Corresponding author
The confusion regarding identication of wolves in the
Himalaya and recognition of their taxonomic status has
persisted for the past 173 years, since the wolf of Himalaya
was rst described by Hodgson (1847) as a distinct species
Canis laniger (Gray 1863; Shrotriya et al. 2012; Werhahn
et al. 2020). Recent genetic markers and mitochondrial
DNA studies have indicated that Himalayan and Tibetan
Wolf are genetically similar, with no striking morphological
differences between the wolves from the Himalaya and those
from Tibet (Ersmark et al. 2016; Werhahn et al. 2017, 2020).
They are reported to be widely distributed in the most fragile
and hardy ecosystems of the Ladakh Trans-Himalayan region
of India (Fox and Chundawat 1995) as also in the Tibetan
Plateau at elevations of 4,500 m above sea level (Ahmad and
Nigam 2015; Shrotriya et al. 2012).
The presence of Tibetan Wolf in Ladakh, along with
information on livestock depredation, has been well-
documented from Gya-miru Wildlife Sanctuary (WLS),
Nubra valley in the Karakoram range in the west and from
the southern limits of the Changthang WLS in Tso Moriri and
Tso Kar lake areas (Fox and Chundawat 1995; Shrotriya et al.
2012) (Fig. 1). Earlier records on the Tibetan Wolf, however,
were largely from surveys by a few naturalists and biologists
(Kinloch 1885; Lydekker 1900; Fox and Chundawat 1995).
However, except for Kinloch (1885), the presence of black
Tibetan Wolf in Ladakh has not been widely reported.
In this note, we record the sighting of a black coated
Tibetan Wolf in Changthang WLS while conducting eld
research on the ecology of Tibetan Antelope in Changchenmo
valley, north of Changthang WLS in the easternmost part
of Ladakh adjoining the Tibetan Plateau, along the Indo-
Chinese border. Elevation in the area ranges from 4,200 m
to 7,000 m, which. It experiences harsh climatic conditions,
has low primary productivity, and a unique assemblage of
mammalian fauna (Rawat and Adhikari 2005). Phobrang
Fig. 1: Sighting records of Tibetan Wolf and
Black Tibetan Wolf in Ladakh, India
Recommended Citation
Bhattacharyya, Soumya Ranjan & Anuj D. Raina (2021): Rare record of Heterochromia iridum in Leopard Cat Prionailurus bengalensis bengalensis
in Sundarban National Park, West Bengal, India. J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. 118(1): 74–75. doi: 10.17087/jbnhs/2021/v118/153367