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 gray phase that varies from ashy gray to brownish black, or occasionally all black. So sometimes jaguarundi are black. But the colour black varies! We are not talking about jet black.

Jaguarundi in its biome. Photo in public domain.

And neither can some wild cats, who through a genetic mutation called melanism have become black, be genuinely called “black”. They are dark charcoal colored.

Black Mountain Lion

Individual cats of certain wild cat species can sometimes be dark charcoal colored but this is not the normal color of the species. All wild cats have coats which help protect them as camouflage. Therefore, the coats blend in with the background. Although for night hunting a dark coat must be a help. Some cats are melanistic.

Some wild cat species are almost synonymous with the color black. The most famous is the jaguar in South America, aka the black panther. Black leopards in India are also called black panthers sometimes, as are black mountain lions; see photo above.

Black Serval

Tranquillised black panther in France. Photo: Sapeurs-pompiers du Nord.

In Africa some servals are melanistic and therefore the color of very dark charcoal (see above). There are “black” pampas cats and black jungle cats (both small wild cat species). This very short post is intended to rectify what appears to be a misunderstanding by some people about the wild cats. There are no wild cat species which are black. There are just some individual wild cats who are members of a certain species who through a genetic mutation are dark to very dark charcoal in color. You can still see their faint coat pattern.