# Black panthers (leopards and jaguars) -- any other big cats have this variation?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-panthers-leopards-and-jaguars-any-other-big-cats-have-this-variation/487083>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [February 23, 2009, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-panthers-leopards-and-jaguars-any-other-big-cats-have-this-variation/487083 "2009-02-23T18:50:13Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![gytalf2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ac91a4/32.png) [@gytalf2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gytalf2000)\
**Post date:** [February 23, 2009, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-panthers-leopards-and-jaguars-any-other-big-cats-have-this-variation/487083/1 "2009-02-23T18:50:13Z")

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I know that both leopards and jaguars have the occasional “melanisitic” individual, that people refer to as a “black panther”. Do any other big cats have this variation? Are there “black lions” or “black tigers”? How about “black pumas/cougars” – or any other wild cats, big or small?

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**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\
**Post date:** [February 23, 2009, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-panthers-leopards-and-jaguars-any-other-big-cats-have-this-variation/487083/2 "2009-02-23T19:01:41Z")

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[Melanism](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melanism) is a relatively common mutation; I’ve seen it in many different [animals](http://images.google.com/images?q=melanistic&oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&hl=en&tab=wi). Somewhere I have some pictures I took a few years ago of a melanistic mallard: jet black duck with an iridescent palimpsest of purple, bronze, and green. Breathtaking.

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**Author:** ![Malacandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Malacandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malacandra)\
**Post date:** [February 23, 2009, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-panthers-leopards-and-jaguars-any-other-big-cats-have-this-variation/487083/3 "2009-02-23T19:07:36Z")

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“Palimpsest” - not a word you hear every day, and an interesting alternative to “watermark” which is also a fair way to describe the show-through of the normal colour pattern. 🙂

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**Author:** ![smiling\_bandit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@smiling\_bandit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smiling_bandit)\
**Post date:** [February 23, 2009, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-panthers-leopards-and-jaguars-any-other-big-cats-have-this-variation/487083/4 "2009-02-23T20:22:26Z")

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While I’m sure the odd non jaguar or leopard has this, I suspect they have this crop up more commonly because it’s not a significant drain on their hunting ability, or it may even be an occaisional advantage.