A Michael Broad Blog
RELATED: Picture of a beautiful black jaguar a.k.a. black panther (melanistic jaguar) Misidentification as Black Panthers: Black jaguars are sometimes confused with black panthers, but it’s essential to clarify that “black panther” isn’t a distinct species. Instead, it’s a term commonly used for melanistic leopards and jaguars. Both black big cats belong to the …
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. …
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 his story is worth publishing here because it’s a rare one. For those who are interested, I have a page …
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 …
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 black jaguars, a.k.a. “black panthers” are not completely jet black. They often retain ghost markings but the markings on Neron …
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 …
