Long time ago I saw a jaguar (I believe it was one). The strange thing was, that it was extremely dark. I wouldn't refer to it as "black" but actually pretty dark.
What does such a color signal? Was it sick, young or just an optical illusion?
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Where was the sighting, may help with identifying.– AM_HawkCommented Nov 24, 2015 at 15:19
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@AM_Hawk That was in Mexico I believe. Definitely Central America at least :)– OddDeerCommented Nov 24, 2015 at 15:24
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I don't know what the color signifies, but there's a name for it: "Melanism" en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melanism– Solomon SlowCommented Nov 24, 2015 at 17:52
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1Many big cats have colour variants caused by pigmentation. I can think of at least three; King Cheetah's (bit.ly/1NoIOyi), White Lions (bit.ly/1QGrZRb) and Black Tigers (bit.ly/1SieTXV). Perhaps you saw a "pigmented" Jaguar, or a Black Panther (bit.ly/1LQNXKK)?– JongosiCommented Nov 24, 2015 at 18:34
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1 Answer
It's possible that what you saw was normal for a jaguar. The Panthera species (leopards [Panthera pardus] in Asia and Africa, and jaguars [Panthera onca] in the Americas) can have melanistic colours like many species. They're commonly known as Black Panthers.
Sometimes you can still see a leopard / jaguars spots through the black fur, but it's still melanistic as it's had a development of the coloured pigment melanin, other times it's a complete covering.
