Black panther
A "black panther" – a melanistic jaguar
Black panthers are melanistic colour variants of several
of larger cat. Wild black panthers in Latin America are black
(Panthera onca), in Asia and Africa black
(Panthera pardus), and in North America may be black jaguars
or possibly black cougars (Puma concolor – although this has not been proven to have
a black variant), or smaller cats.[1][2]
Black
panthers are also reported as
in areas such as the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia,
and for these (if they do exist) the species is not known. Captive black
panthers may be black jaguars, or more commonly black leopards. Black
panthers have sometimes been regarded as forming different species from
their normally-colored relatives.
The
name "panther" is often limited to the black variants of the
species, but is also used to refer to those which are normally-colored
for the species (tawny or spotted), or to white color variants:
panthers.
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Melanism
in the jaguar (Panthera onca), is conferred by a
and in the leopard (Panthera pardus) by a
allele. Close examination of the color of these black cats will show
that the typical markings are still there, but are hidden by the excess
black pigment melanin, giving an effect similar to that of printed
silk. Melanistic and non-melanistic animals can be
or leucistic individuals of the same species are known
as white panthers.
It
is thought that melanism may confer a
advantage under certain conditions since it is more
common in regions of dense forest, where light levels are lower. Recent,
preliminary studies also suggest that melanism might be linked to beneficial
mutations in the immune system.[3]
Leopards
A melanistic leopard
China, Myanmar,
and Nepal, from Travancore and other parts of southern India and
are said to be common in
and the southern part of the
Peninsula where they may be more numerous than spotted
leopards. They are less common in tropical Africa, but have been reported
from Ethiopia (formerly Abyssinia), from the forests of
Kenya and from the
One was recorded by Peter Turnbull-Kemp in the equatorial
forest of Cameroon. Skin color is a mixture of blue, black,
gray, and purple with rosettes.
In captivity
and they have been selectively bred for decades in the zoo and
exotic pet trades. Black leopards are smaller and more lightly built
than normally-pigmented individuals.
It
is a myth[citation needed].
that black leopards are often rejected by their mothers at an early
age because of their color. In actuality, poor temperament has been
bred into the captive strains as a side-effect of
and it is this poor temperament that leads to problems of maternal care
in captivity. According to
Wagnalls' Wildlife Encyclopedia, captive black leopards
color: #0000FF;">[4] are less fertile than normal
leopards, with average litter sizes of 1.8 and 2.1, respectively. This
is likely due to inbreeding depression.
In
the early 1980s, Glasgow Zoo, in Scotland, acquired
a 10 year old black leopard, nicknamed the
Zoo. She was exhibited for several years before being
moved to the Madrid Zoo, in Spain. This leopard had a uniformly black
coat profusely sprinkled with white hairs as though draped with spider
webs. The condition appeared to be
as she aged, the white became more extensive. Since then, other "cobweb
panthers" have been reported and photographed in zoos.
Jaguars
A melanistic jaguar
may produce either black or spotted cubs, but a pair of spotted
jaguars can only produce spotted cubs. The gene is
dominant: individuals with two copies of the allele
are darker (the black background colour is more dense) than individuals
with just one copy, whose background colour may appear to be dark charcoal
rather than black.
A melanistic jaguar at the
Doorly Zoo.
is result of a dominant
and remains relatively rare in jaguars.
The black jaguar was considered a separate species by indigenous peoples.
W H Hudson wrote:
rich golden-red tan, abundantly marked with black rings,
one or two small spots within. This is the typical colouring, and it
varies little in the temperate regions; in the hot region the Indians
recognise three strongly marked varieties, which they regard as distinct
species – the one described; the smaller jaguar, less aquatic in his
habits and marked with spots, not rings; and, thirdly, the black variety.
They scout the notion that their terrible "black tiger" is
a mere melanic variation, like the black leopard of the Old World and
the wild black rabbit. They regard it as wholly distinct, and affirm
that it is larger and much more dangerous than the spotted jaguar; that
they recognise it by its cry; that it belongs to the terra firma rather
than to the water-side; finally, that black pairs with black, and that
the cubs are invariably black. Nevertheless, naturalists have been obliged
to make it specifically one with Felis onca [Panthera onca], the familiar spotted jaguar,
since, when stripped of its hide, it is found to be anatomically as
much like that beast as the black is like the spotted leopard.
color: #0000FF;">[5]
A
black jaguar, named "Diablo", was inadvertently crossed with
a lioness, named "Lola", at the
Wildlife Sanctuary in
Canada. The offspring were a charcoal black
female and a tan-colored, spotted jaglion male. It therefore appears
that the jaguar melanism gene is also dominant over normal lion coloration
(the black jaguar sire was presumably carrying the black on only one
allele). In preserved, stuffed specimens, black leopards often fade
to a rusty color but black jaguars fade to chocolate brown color.
Cougars
Illustration of a black cougar, 1843[
(pumas). Melanistic cougars have never been photographed or shot in
the wild and none has ever been bred. There is wide consensus among
breeders and biologists that the animal does not exist.
Black
cougars have been reported in Kentucky and in the Carolinas. There have
also been reports of glossy black cougars from Kansas, Texas and eastern
Nebraska.[citation needed]
These have come to be known as the "North American black panther".
Sightings are currently attributed to errors in species identification
by non-experts, and by the memetic exaggeration of size.
Black
panthers in the American Southeast feature prominently in
folklore where, along with the
they are often thought to symbolize
In
his Histoire Naturelle (1749),
Leclerc, Comte de Buffon, wrote of the "Black
Cougar"[6]:
de la Borde, King’s physician at Cayenne, informs me, that in the
[South American] Continent there are three species of rapacious animals;
that the first is the jaguar, which is called the tiger; that the second
is the couguar [sic], called the red tiger, on account of the uniform
redness of his hair; that the jaguar is of the size of a large bull-dog,
and weighs about 200 pounds [90 kg]; that the cougar is smaller, less
dangerous, and not so frequent in the neighbourhood of Cayenne as the
jaguar; and that both these animals take six years in acquiring their
full growth. He adds, that there is a third species in these countries,
called the black tiger, of which we have given a figure under the appellation
of the black cougar. The head is pretty similar to that of the common
cougar; but the animal has long black hair, and likewise a long tail,
with strong whiskers. He weighs not much above forty pounds [18 kg].
The female brings forth her young in the hollows of old trees."
This
"black cougar" was most likely a margay or ocelot, which are
under 40 pounds (18 kg) in weight, live in trees, and do have melanistic
phases.
Another
description of a black cougar[7] was provided by Pennant:
Black tiger, or cat, with the head black, sides,
fore part of the legs, and the tail, covered with short and very glossy
hairs, of a dusky colour, sometimes spotted with black, but generally plain: Upper lips white: At the corner of the mouth
a black spot: Long hairs above each eye, and long whiskers on the upper
lip: Lower lip, throat, belly, and the inside of the legs, whitish,
or very pale ash-colour: Paws white: Ears pointed: Grows to the size
of a heifer of a year old: Has vast strength in its limbs.-- Inhabits
Brasil and Guiana: Is a cruel and fierce beast; much dreaded by the
Indians; but happily is a scarce species;
According to his translator Smellie (1781), the description
was taken from two black cougars exhibited in London some years previously.
Reports
of "black panthers" in the United States
have been captured; these have also apparently been mistaken for panthers.
Ulmer (1941) presents photographs and descriptions of two animals captured
in Martin County in 1939 and 1940. In the photographs,
they appear black, and one of the hunters called them black.
Academy specimen, upon close examination, is far from black. The most
heavily pigmented portions are the crown and dorsal area. In most lights
these areas appear black, but at certain angles the dorsal strip has
a decidedly mahogany tint. The mahogany coloring becomes lighter and
richer on the sides. The underparts are lightest, being almost ferruginous
in color. The chin, throat and cheeks are dark chocolate-brown, but
the facial stripes can be seen clearly. The limbs are dark mahogany.
In certain lights the typical spot-pattern of the Florida bobcat can
be distinctly seen on the side, underparts and limbs. The Bronx Park
animal appears darker and the spots are not visible, although the poor
light in the quarantine cage may have been the reason.[8]
Adult
male bobcats are 28–47 inches (71–120 cm) long, with a short, bobbed
tail, and are 18–24 inches (46–61 cm) tall at the shoulder. Females
are slightly smaller. Florida panthers are 23–32 inches (58–81 cm)
at the shoulder and 5–7 feet (1.5–2.1 m) long, including the tail.
Bobcats weigh 16–30 pounds (7.3–14 kg) while Florida panthers are
50–150 pounds (23–68 kg).
Another
possible explanation for black panther sightings is the
a cat very similar genetically to the cougar, which grows to around
30 inches (76 cm) long with an additional 20 inches (51 cm) of tail. Their
coat occurs in a reddish-brown phase and a dark grey phase. While their
acknowledged natural range ends in southern Texas, a small breeding
population was introduced to Florida in the 1940s, and there are rumors
of people breeding them as pets there as well. In Central America, they
are known as relatively docile pets, as far as non-domesticated animals
go. The male jaguarundi's
can be up to 100 square kilometres (40 sq mi) while the female's home range
can be up to 20 square kilometres (8 sq mi). It has been suggested that
very small populations of jaguarundi, which rarely venture out of deep
forests, are responsible for many or most of the supposed black cougar
sightings. While they are significantly smaller than a cougar, differently
colored, and much lower to the ground (many note a resemblance to the
weasel), memory bias could explain many of the sightings
in the southeastern U.S.
Another
possibility would be the black jaguar which ranged into North America
in historical memory. Melanistic jaguars are uncommon in nature and,
significantly, jaguars in general were persecuted to near-extinction
in the 1960s. Though they do not look exactly like cougars, they have
the requisite size. The jaguar has had several (photographically) confirmed,
and many unconfirmed, sightings in Arizona, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and
southwest Texas, but not beyond that region.
Reports
of black panthers in Australia
Australia reportedly brought back black panthers as mascots. Within
weeks of arriving in Australia, an unreported number of panthers
escaped into the bush.[
panther sightings are frequently recorded in rural Victoria, New South
Wales and Western Australia, and sightings are being recorded closer
and closer tn areas.[
suggested[by whom?]
that the panthers mated with feral
cats, although in fact the domestic cat cannot hybridise
with any of the panthies. The Australian "phantom panthers"
are said to be responsible for the disappearances and deaths of numerous
cats, dogs and livestock.
numerous sightings from "credible witnesses" such as
pilots and police officers as well as a compilation of over 600 reports.
However, testimonials do not constitute reliable evidence.[9]
X Natural Mysteries Unit[
an investigation into the phantom panther. They discovered that scats
and hair found by locals and sent to a lab came back as dog scat which
had feasted on swamp wallaby and hair that had come from a domestic
cat. In an experiment, the Animal X team sent in leopard scat and hair collected from
a private zoo. These samples came back with the same results[
Pseudo-melanism
leopard has a normal background color, but the spots are more densely
packed than normal and merge to obscure the golden-brown background
colour. Any spots on the flanks and limbs that have not merged into
the mass of swirls and stripes are unusually small and discrete, rather
than forming rosettes. The face and underparts are paler and dappled
like those of ordinary spotted leopards.[10]
Male Persian leopard with an atypical coat pattern
(Wilhelma, Germany)
Lydekker described specimens of pseudo-melanistic
leopards found in South Africa in the late nineteenth century:[11]
The ground-colour of this animal was a rich
tawny, with an orange tinge; but the spots, instead of being of the
usual rosette-like
ordinary leopard; while from the top of the head to near the root of the tail the spots became
almost confluent, producing the appearance of a broad streak of black
running down the back. A second skin had the black area embracing nearly
the whole of the back and flanks, without showing any trace of the spots
[...] These dark-coloured South African leopards differ from the black
leopards of the northern and eastern parts of Africa and Asia in that
while in the latter the rosette-like spots are always retained and clearly
visible, in the former the rosettes are lost...
or museum specimens. In May 1936, the
Natural History Museum exhibited the mounted skin
of an unusual Somali leopard.[11] The pelt was richly decorated
with an intricate pattern of swirling stripes, blotches, curls and fine-line
traceries. This is different from a spotted leopard, but similar to
a king cheetah, hence the modern
term king leopard. Between 1885 and 1934, six pseudo-melanistic leopards
were recorded in the Albany and Grahamstown districts of South Africa.
color: #0000FF;">[11] This indicated a mutation in
the local leopard population. Other king leopards have been recorded
from Malabar in southwestern India.[11] Shooting for trophies may have
contributed to the loss of these populations.
References
- ^ LatinName
- ^ Cougarinfo.
- ^ Sunquist,
F. (December 2007).
color: #0000FF;">"Malaysian Mystery Leopards".
color: #0000FF;">National Wildlife Magazine
(1). - ^ Funk and Wagnalls' Wildlife
Encyclopedia - ^ Harmsworth Natural History
(1910), WH Hudson - ^ Histoire Naturelle Buffon
- ^ Thomas Pennant, welsh
naturalist, Pennant's Synops. of quad., p 180 - ^ Ulmer, Jr., Fred A. 1941.
Mammalogy, Vol. 22, No. 3. pp. 285–288. - ^
- ^ Gamble,
Cyndi; Rodney Griffiths (2004). Leopards: Natural History & Conservation. Voyageur Press. - ^ a
S.. "Mutant leopards".
Britain.
Retrieved 20 February 2010.
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