‘Is that Bagheera?’: A video of a black panther in an Indian forest goes viral

The undated video, which was filmed from inside a vehicle, shows the animal running away and disappearing into the forest as the vehicle approached it.

“The black panther of India. Location will not be revealed.” Kaswan wrote while sharing the video. The footage prompted netizens to remember ‘Bagheera’, the name of a black panther in the Rudyard Kipling classic ‘The Jungle Book’.

Watch the video here:

The black panther of India. Location will not be revealed. Forwarded by staff. pic.twitter.com/q2fXW8Et3e

— Parveen Kaswan, IFS (@ParveenKaswan) October 24, 2020

Kaswan also explained why he hadn’t shared the location where the animal was spotted. “The idea is not to reveal the exact location. Otherwise, people are aware of where this animal is found,” he wrote.

Take a look at some of the reactions here:

Bagheera pic.twitter.com/6etsETHPIU

— Dummi’s_uncle (@Smart_Dummi) October 24, 2020

Black beauty 🖤🖤

— @$♈️ (@astheticgirl25) October 24, 2020

He is not scared. 😍😍

— Kamal Premi (@KamalPremi2) October 24, 2020

Wow. What a lucky sighting and for a good amount of time!

— Kiran Martis ‏‎‎کیرن مارٹیس (@kiranmartis9) October 24, 2020

What a beauty 😍

— TARUKA (@TarukaSrivastav) October 24, 2020

Looks like quite a young fellow, unafraid of vehicles; urbanized 😀.
Somewhere in hilly region, though unusual to be there always.

— Syncretic (@3rd_Handle) October 24, 2020

People: Wow Black Panther!!!!
Le Bagheera: Have you guys seen Mowgli!?

— Joyabroto Ghosh (@JoyabrotoGhosh) October 24, 2020

So graceful

— Rajan Venkateswaran (സ്വാമി) (@swamy64) October 24, 202

The video, which was shared on October 24, has been viewed over a million times on Twitter.

Black panthers is a variant of spotted leopards that are mainly found in Asia and Africa. In India, the rare wild cats are mainly found in protected forests in South India.