The “world’s most elusive cat” is so perfectly camouflaged on mountain terrain it is almost impossible to spot. But among the rocks and snow lies a leopard eagerly waiting to pounce.
And once you catch sight of it, you’ll wonder how you ever missed it.
The mind-boggling photo was taken high in the Himalayas in northeastern India.
Photographer Saurabh Desai began trekking in the Spiti Valley in 2019 with one mission.
“I was on my search of the world’s most elusive cat which is also known as ‘Grey Ghost’ in the popular local language,” he told My Modern Met.
After almost three years on the lookout, Desai finally managed to snap the brown leopard about eight kilometres from the high-altitude village of Kibber.
And it appears the big cat saw him too, with its piercing eyes looking directly into the camera.
Desai, from Gujarat, was left utterly “speechless” by the chance encounter.
He said: “The picture depicts the snow leopard trying to get off the cliff.”
“But observing our presence, it decided to wait until it got really dark and it stayed there on the edge.”
The recently resurfaced picture was taken at an altitude of 17,000 feet at about -86F.
Oxygen levels had also plunged to less than 50 percent compared to normal.
Social media users were perplexed by the photo, with some taking hours to clock the creature.
One said on Reddit: “I’ve seen this image 643634 times and I’m always like, ‘where are you you little b*****d?’”
Another commented: “Honestly can’t see any leopard … damn nature, you scary.
And one said on Twitter: “After finding it … it becomes so apparent and easy to see.”
This article originally appeared on The Sun and has been republished with permission