Exciting news! It’s almost my cat’s birthday! Ori will be turning 7 years old on Sunday, January 19th.
In his honor, I want to talk about the larger version of Ori: the black panther.
What is a black panther?
Unlike other animals we’ve explored on this blog, black panthers aren’t a specific animal species. Instead, “black panther” is the name for a melanistic jaguar or leopard. “Melanism” is when an animal produces more melanin, making their skin, feathers, or fur darker than normal.
Melanism can occur throughout the animal kingdom. Of the 37 species in the cat family (Felidae), around 13 have had reported instances of melanism, including the Goeffroy’s cat, oncilla, and Pampas cat. For leopards and jaguars, about 10% of each species is melanistic and will be a “black panther.”
But what’s interesting about black panthers is the genetics behind them. Melanism in leopards is determined by a recessive form of the ASIP gene. In contrast, the dominant form of the MC1R gene is responsible for melanism in jaguars. This raises the question: if melanism in jaguars is determined by a dominant gene, shouldn’t there be more black ones?
In a randomly mating population, we would expect the dominant trait to occur more frequently than the recessive one. In this case, we would expect more melanistic jaguars than non-melanistic ones. But we don’t because a) animals rarely mate randomly; and b) the environment seems to impact the presence of melanism in big cats. More specifically, melanism is more likely found in jaguars and leopards living in moist, dense forests than in open forests. This suggests that being a black panther is advantageous in moist forests, increasing the likelihood that black panthers will survive, mate, and pass on their genes than ones in other environments.
So that’s the black panther scoop: they’re just a melanistic leopard or jaguar and behave like a typical member of their species. But what are the need-to-know facts about leopards and jaguars?
Leopard basics
Leopards (Panthera pardus) are the smallest big cats (i.e., lions, tigers, and jaguars). But they’re plenty big: the average male leopard is between 3 and 6.2 feet long (92 – 190 centimeters) and weighs between 90 and 165 pounds (36 – 75 kilograms). Leopards are covered in flower-shaped spots called rosettes. These rosettes help leopards hide from their prey by breaking up the outline of their body against their background. You can find leopards in Africa and Asia.
While they’re powerful hunters and can quickly kill prey with a bite to the throat, leopards aren’t at the top of the food chain: lions, hyenas, and tigers can make quick work of a leopard. To avoid these threats, leopards spend much of their time resting in trees. In fact, leopards are the most arboreal of the big cats and the strongest climbers! Their long tails help leopards balance on narrow tree branches, and a leopard’s shoulder blades even have special attachment sites for climbing muscles.
Climbing impacts their hunting, too. Leopards primarily use stalking to get close to their prey before an ambush, even dropping out of trees onto prey to kill them. Once their prey is killed, leopards usually bring the body to a favorite tree to stash it. This stashing keeps the kill from predators (i.e., lions and hyenas) who might try to steal it. Leopards are such good climbers that they can climb up to 50 feet (15 meters) in a tree while carrying a fresh kill.
Jaguar basics
Jaguars (Panthera onca) are the largest cats in the Western Hemisphere and the third largest cat in the world (after lions and tigers). They are, on average, 3.8 to 6 feet long (1.1 to 1.8 meters) and weigh between 70 and 249 pounds (21 to 121 kilograms). You can find jaguars in North, Central, and South America.
Jaguars and leopards are similar in many ways, which makes sense: both live in similar habitats and fill similar roles in their ecosystems. But there are a few key differences. For instance, while jaguars also have rosettes on their fur, they have a dot inside them, while leopard rosettes are empty. In addition, jaguars tend to be more muscular and heavily built than leopards (which you could guess by their larger size).
Jaguars are one of the more aquatic cats at home in rivers and streams. Jaguars often live near water and enjoy the occasional fish meal. There are reports of jaguars “fishing” by waving their tail over the water as a lure to attract fish! Like leopards, jaguars are ambush predators. However, instead of going for the throat like leopards do, jaguars use their strong jaws to pierce their prey’s skulls.
So there you have it! If it lives in Africa or Asia, it’s a leopard; if you’re in the Americas, it’s a jaguar. And there’s a 10% chance that either of them could be melanistic, making them a black panther.
The cutest black panther, though, is obviously still Ori.
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