Son of Industries Minister MB Patil, Dhruv Patil, a member of the Karnataka State Board for Wildlife, has captured a unique and rare genetic mutation in the iris of leopard at the Bandipur Tiger Reserve in Karnataka. In such first-ever documentation of the variation in the coloration of the iris of a leopard, it is a common phenomenon among domestic animals that causes eyes to have different colours and is known as heterochromia Iridium.
On a regular reserve visit, Dhruv spotted an old female leopard on a tree and photographed the big cat. When he zoomed the captured picture he noticed the leopard had one blue-greenish iris while the other was brown. According to wildlife experts, it is very commonly seen that big cats have two to three eye colour variations but two separate colours in a single animal is a very rare occurrence.