A black panther is the melanistic colour variant of the leopard (Panthera pardus) and the jaguar (Panthera onca). Black panthers of both species have excess black pigments, but their typical rosettes are also present. They have been documented mostly in tropical forests, with black leopards in Africa and Asia, and black jaguars in South America. Melanism is caused by a recessive allele in the leopard, and by a dominant allele in the jaguar.
A black African leopard (P. p. pardus) was sighted in the alpine zone of Mount Kenya in the winter of 1989–1990.[9]
In Kenya's Laikipia County, a black leopard was photographed by a camera trap in 2007; in 2018, a female subadult black leopard was repeatedly recorded together with a spotted leopard about 50 km (31 mi) farther east in a grassland.[10]
At least one black leopard was photographed in mixed deciduous forest in Thailand's Kaeng Krachan National Park during a one-year-long camera trapping survey from 2003 to 2004.[14] In 2009, black leopards were photographed more often than spotted leopards in Kui Buri National Park.[15]
Most leopards recorded at 16 sites south of the Kra Isthmus between 1996 and 2009 were black, indicating a near-fixation of melanism in Peninsular Malaysia.[16] In 2019, a black individual was photographed outside a protected area in Jeli District.[17]
Both black and spotted leopards were recorded in Gunung Gede Pangrango National Park in West Java between 2005 and 2017.[18]
Frequency of melanism appears to be approximately 11% over the leopard's range. Data on the distribution of leopard populations indicates that melanism occurs in five subspecies in the wild: the Indian leopard, Javan leopard, African leopard, Indochinese leopard (P. p. delacouri) and Sri Lankan leopard (P. p. kotiya). Based on records from camera traps, melanistic leopards occur foremost in tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests.[19]
Melanism in the leopard is conferred by a recessive allele.[20]
It is thought that melanism confers a selective advantage under certain conditions since it is more common in regions of dense forest, where light levels are lower. Preliminary studies also suggest that melanism might be linked to beneficial mutations in the immune system.[21]
The typical spots and rosettes are present but hidden due to the excess melanin.[22]
The taxonomic status of captive black leopards and the extent of hybridization between the Javan leopard and other leopard subspecies is uncertain. Therefore, coordinated breeding programs for black leopards do not exist in European and North American zoos.[23] Black leopards occupy space needed for breeding endangered leopard subspecies and are not included within the North American Species Survival Plan.[24][25]
A black Amur leopard (P. p. orientalis) was exhibited at the San Diego Zoo in 2017.[26]
A pseudo-melanistic leopard has a normal background color, but the spots are more densely packed than normal, and merge to obscure the golden-brown background color. Any spots on the flanks and limbs that have not merged into the mass of swirls and stripes are unusually small and discrete, rather than forming rosettes. The face and underparts are paler and dappled, like those of ordinary spotted leopards.[27]
^Delamétherie, J.-C. (1788). "Description d'une Panthère noire" [Description of a black Panther]. Observations et Mémoires sur la Physique, sur l'Histoire Naturelle et sur les Arts et Métiers, etc. (in French). 33: 45.
^Blanford, W. T. (1888). "Felis pardus. The Leopard or Panther". The Fauna of British India, including Ceylon and Burma. Mammalia: Volume 1. London: Taylor and Francis. pp. 67–71.
^Mason, F. (1882). "F. pardus, L. The leopard". Burma, its people and productions; or, Notes on the fauna, flora, and minerals of Tenasserim, Pegu, and Burma. Vol. 1. Geology, mineralogy, and zoology (Rewritten and enlarged by W. Theobald ed.). Hertford: Chief Commissioner of British Burma. p. 472.
^Young, T. P. & Evans, M. E. (1993). "Alpine vertebrates of Mount Kenya, with particular notes on the rock hyrax". Journal of the East African Natural History Society. 82 (202): 54–79.
^Pilfold, N. W.; Letoluai, A.; Ruppert, K.; Glikman, J. A.; Stacy-Dawes, J.; O'Connor, D. & Owen, M. (2019). "Confirmation of black leopard (Panthera pardus pardus) living in Laikipia County, Kenya". African Journal of Ecology. 57 (2): 270–273. doi:10.1111/aje.12586. S2CID92543492.
^Sayyed, A. & Mahabal, A. (2013). "Records of the melanistic Leopard Panthera pardus (Linnaeus) from Western Ghats area of Maharashtra and Karnataka, India". Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society. 110 (2): 151.
^Sayyed, A. & Mahabal, A. (2015). "Second record of melanistic leopard Panthera pardus (Linnaeus) from Satara, Maharashtra: a case of roadkill". Zoo's Print. 30 (5): 29.
^Thapa, K.; Pradhan, N. M. B.; Barker, J.; Dahal, M.; Bhandari, A. R.; Gurung, G. S.; Rai, D. P.; Thapa, G. J.; Shrestha, S.; Singh, G. R. (2013). "High elevation record of a leopard cat in the Kangchenjunga Conservation Area, Nepal". Cat News (58): 26–27.
^Kawanishi, K.; Sunquist, M. E.; Eizirik, E.; Lynam, A. J.; Ngoprasert, D.; Shahruddin, W. N. W.; Rayan, D. M.; Sharma, D. S. K. & Steinmetz, R. (2010). "Near fixation of melanism in panthers of the Malay Peninsula". Journal of Zoology. 282 (3): 201–206. doi:10.1111/j.1469-7998.2010.00731.x.
^Richardson, D. M. (2001). "A simple analysis of leopard (Panthera pardus) space within EAZA collections". In Hiddinga, B.; Brouwer, K. (eds.). EAZA Yearbook 1999/2000. Amsterdam: EAZA Executive Office. pp. 391–392.
^Swanson, B.; Fletchall, N. & Shoemaker, A. (2003). Felid Taxon Advisory Group North American Regional Collection Plan 2003–2005. Bay Lake: Disney's Animal Kingdom.
^Parham, D. (2017). "Black Beauty". Zoonooz. Archived from the original on 24 October 2018. Retrieved 24 October 2018.
^Gamble, C. (2004). Leopards: Natural History & Conservation. Stillwater, MN: Voyageur Press. ISBN978-0896586567.
^Azara, F. de (1801). "L'Yagouarété". Essais sur l'histoire naturelle des quadrupedes de la province du Paraguay. Vol. 1. Paris: Charles Pougens. pp. 114–132.
^Sáenz-Bolaños, C.; Montalvo, V.; Fuller, T. K. & Carrillo, E. (2015). "Records of black jaguars at Parque Nacional Barbilla, Costa Rica". Cat News (62): 38–39.
^Yacelga, M. & Craighead, K. (2019). "Melanistic jaguars in Panama". Cat News (70): 39–41. Archived from the original on 29 November 2021. Retrieved 14 April 2021.