What affects us affects cats
We can see that this is a leopard and not a jaguar as the leopard is slenderer than the stockier jaguar. They melanistic jaguars look amazing. I don’t know where it was taken. It could be one of many countries as the common leopard has the widest distribution of all the wild cat species. …
The journal Mammalia has a very interesting post (republished by De Gruyter, I believe). It contains a video of what might be a unique black Canada lynx. I say “unique” because the author of the article and my research indicates that up until now this cat is unique. There’s been no other record of …
Well, I have learned that melanistic kodkods are not uncommon. However, I guess that the kodkod itself is uncommon! This is a pretty rare small wild cat species in Chile. The name ‘kodkod’ comes from the Araucanian Indian name for this cat species. However, in Chile and Argentina it is called ‘gūina’. It is …
People are fascinated with the black panther so when you have the opportunity to see a genuine jet-black panther crossing a dusty road in the Pench Tiger Reserve in India it’s worth looking at. This is a melanistic leopard which shares territory with the Bengal tiger in this reserve. Although the leopard will avoid …
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 a black or dark grey pattern but not completely black. They have ghost markings or the spots can be quite …
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 and pumas (there are no black tigers or lions). They are also called melanistic leopards. Melanism is a genetic mutation …
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 in 4×4 vehicles looking out at the animals in the park. On this occasion Peter Hall noticed a small black …
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 Geoffroy’s cats. It is due to a dominant autosomal allele. Their normal colour is shown the photograph below being typical …
