Black mountain lion sighting off interstate 70 in Utah
Dwight Ward contacted me by email with his story of the sighting of a melanistic (black) mountain lion in Utah while he was hiking across the country. It was back in 1972. I think...
Tagged: melanism
Pseudo-melanistic Bengal tiger inspects scent marking on a tree
The Indian ranger, Susanta Nanda, in his tweet describes this tiger, captured in a camera trap video, as melanistic. I think, in fact, that the tiger is better described as being pseudo-melanistic. This is...
Black leopard picture – where, what and how
People search for a ‘black leopard picture’. Here are some good ones. Leopards can often have the appearance of being jet black but they are not. Sometimes a black leopard is very dark with...
Picture of a beautiful black jaguar a.k.a. black panther (melanistic jaguar)
This is a great picture from a short video made by The Big Cat Sanctuary showing Neron, a male, melanistic jaguar. The spots are called rosettes and they are nicely visible. It shows that...
Melanistic, black Bengal cat
The Russian breeder, Лариса Десятова, of this very interesting-looking black purebred cat describes him as a: ?♀️ Bengali male ?♀️ melanistic, born 30/11/20/. I believe that she means “Bengal male”. There is no breed...
Are leopards and black panthers the same?
Yes, leopards and black panthers are the same but I have to add that the phrase “black panthers” refers to any melanistic (black) large wild cat. As a consequence it also applies to jaguars...
Small black cat sighting in central Kruger National Park
Artist Peter Hall was on a game drive in the central regions of Kruger National Park in South Africa, reports the EarthTouch News website. A “game drive” is one in which the participants sit...
Pictures of a black Geoffroy’s cat
The four subspecies of Geoffroy’s cat vary considerably in colour variation and size. Unlike most other wild cat species (all other wild cat species, perhaps) black Geofroy’s cats are common. These are called melanistic...
Can cheetahs be black?
Yes, cheetahs CAN (i.e. theoretically) be black but there aren’t any today, in my opinion. Black cheetahs have been recorded but they are extremely rare. White cheetahs have also been recorded but they are...
Picture of black serval by George Benjamin
This is a really excellent photograph of a black (melanistic) serval in the wild taken by British wildlife photographer George Turner. He used a Nikon D5 camera with a 500 mm, F4 lens. The...
Can servals be black?
The picture below is of a black serval taken by a camera trap in the Kilimanjaro area of Tanzania. It is the first picture of a black serval that I have seen in Tanzania....
Can bobcats be black?
Yes bobcats can be black but they are very rare. I think there have been twelve reported sightings, the majority in Florida. A better description is ‘melanistic’ which is more like dark charcoal. Bobcats...
Black Panther Pictures
This page is about black panther pictures from any legitimate source plus information about the black panther. Over 150 years ago many eminent scientists of the day believed the panther to be a separate...
Wild Cats That Are Black
“Wild cats that are black” is a Google search term. Bar one (that I can think of) no wild cat species is black as a default or standard coat color. The jaguarundi has a...
Black Serval Picture
This is a very rare photograph of a black serval. This particular cat looks young to me (subadult). When I first saw the photograph I thought, “what is that?” A strange looking cat. The...
Note: sources for news articles are carefully selected but the news is often not independently verified.
