Is a Black Panther a Leopard? Melanism in Big Cats Explained

What is a black panther?

“Panther” is an old word for big cats in the genus Panthera, and the leopard was long called a panther. A black panther is simply an individual leopard or jaguar whose fur is so dark that it looks black from a distance. It belongs to the same species as its spotted relatives, lives in the same places, eats the same prey and can mate with spotted animals.

The word has also been used for other cats. In the United States, “panther” is a regional name for the cougar, as in the Florida panther, but cougars are never black. So the answer depends on where you are: in the Old World, a black panther is a leopard; in the New World, it is a jaguar.

How does melanism work?

Melanism means the skin and hair produce much more of the dark pigment eumelanin than usual. In cats it comes from small changes in the genes that control which pigment each hair makes.

In leopards, the black coat is caused by a mutation in the ASIP gene (agouti signaling protein), identified by geneticists in 2012. It is recessive: a leopard must inherit the variant from both parents to be black. Two spotted parents that both carry one copy can therefore have a black cub, and black and spotted cubs have been found in the same litter.

In jaguars, melanism comes from a different gene, MC1R (melanocortin 1 receptor), and is dominant. A jaguar needs only one copy to be black, so a black jaguar can have spotted cubs if it also carries the normal version. These different causes show that melanism evolved separately in the two species. Studies of the cat family have found it arose independently several times.

Do black panthers still have spots?

Yes. The rosettes are still there, because the pattern is set separately from the overall color. In normal light the background fur is so dark that the spots are hard to see, but in bright sunlight a black leopard looks like dark rosettes printed on dark chocolate-brown fur, an effect sometimes called “ghost spots.”

The hidden pattern is useful for science. Researchers identify individual leopards by their spot patterns, which is difficult with black animals. In Malaysia, scientists solved this by using camera traps with infrared flash, which reveals the rosettes of black leopards clearly enough to tell individuals apart.

Where do black leopards live?

Across the whole range, about one leopard in ten is black, but the share varies hugely by region. Black leopards are most common in dense, humid tropical forests, where the light on the forest floor is low.

• Southeast Asia: on the Malay Peninsula south of the Kra Isthmus, almost all leopards recorded by camera traps are black. Black leopards are also frequent in parts of Thailand and on Java.
• India and Sri Lanka: black leopards are known from the Western Ghats, central India and northeast India, including Kabini in Karnataka and Tadoba in Maharashtra. One was even photographed at 4,300 m (14,100 ft) in Nepal.
• Africa: black leopards are rare. They have been recorded in forests and highlands of East Africa, and a black leopard photographed in Laikipia, Kenya, in 2018–2019 drew worldwide attention.

Why melanism is common in some places is still being studied. The leading idea is that a dark coat gives better camouflage in deep shade, and some research suggests the genes involved may also affect the immune system.

Where do black jaguars live?

Black jaguars are found in Central and South America, mostly in moist tropical forests. Camera-trap studies have recorded them in Costa Rica, Panama, Brazil’s Amazon and Pará state and elsewhere. In parts of Costa Rica’s Talamanca mountains about a quarter of jaguar photos showed black animals. A black jaguar was also photographed in the Sierra Madre Occidental of northern Mexico in 2004. Jaguars as a species are listed as Near Threatened by the IUCN.

Black and spotted jaguars are easy to confuse with leopards in photographs, but the two never meet in the wild. See leopard vs jaguar for how to tell spotted ones apart.

Are there black cougars or black panthers in the US?

No black cougar has ever been confirmed. There is no specimen, no verified photograph of a wild one and no record of one born in captivity. The cougar, also called the mountain lion or Florida panther, has a plain tawny or grayish coat.

Reports of black panthers in North America, and of “big cats” in the British countryside, continue every year. Experts usually attribute them to misjudged size and color: black house cats, dogs, dark-looking cougars in poor light, or a few melanistic bobcats, which have been documented in Florida. Escaped exotic pets are another possible explanation, but no wild breeding population of black leopards or jaguars exists outside their native ranges.

Other unusual coat colors

Melanism is the best-known color variant, but not the only one. A few leopards in South Africa have been recorded with a reddish “strawberry” coat, a condition called erythrism. Pale and white leopards have been reported from India. Both are much rarer than black leopards and, like melanism, do not make the animal a different species.