White Cougar Spotted in Brazil’s Atlantic Forest; A First of Its Kind

A recent photo of a white cougar has taken internet by storm. picture of white cougar was taken at Serra dos Orgaos National Park that is located in south-eastern part of Brazil’s Atlantic Forest. picture was taken in 2013 and this is a confirmed case of genetic mutation that is also kwn as leucism. In this mutation, whole body of animal will turn white. 

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This is unusual and makes this cougar one of  rare animals found presently in world. According to Revista Pesquisa web portal, cougar was spotted four times. cougar was looking for new territory in  Atlantic Forest. Cougars are predators and ir habitat stretches from Chile to Cana. After this spotting, cougar was t spotted again. This has been corroborated by an environmental analyst, Cecelia Cronemberger de Faria.

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Be it a black panr or a puma or any or wild cat, this kind of genetic colour aberrations are very common among wild cat species. However, y were t found in cougars. Luke Hunter, executive director of  Wildlife Conservation Society’s Big Cats Program said that this is unusual and one might t be able to see ar white cougar in ir lifetime. 

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Hunter ded that one has been able to deduce why colour-changing genes are rare in cougars. Cougars have mostly muted colour tones in grey or tan. This uniform colour of cougars has been maintained for such a long time. Hunter believes that emergence of this white cougar might point out randomness that happens in mutation. 

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Is colour change an vant or a disvant?

colour change has t yet been linked to any disvant or vant on part of cougars. However, ories suggest that black panrs survive more in dense rainforests as black coats can hide m in dimly lit forest settings. 

CAT news study authors believe that due to shrinking of forests, lack of prey emergence of white cougars could mean that inbreeding is happening among wild cats. However, Hunter believes that since white cougars were spotted again, inbreeding was t case.

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