Wednesday, February 26, 2014

Revisiting the Melanistic Jaguar Theory

All of you who have read this blog for any length of time at all know that the subject of large, black, long-tailed cats, or “black panthers,” is something in which I am particularly interested. This subject has become the number one most popular topic on this site. More people contact me about black cat sightings, by far, than sightings or anecdotes about any other animal (known or cryptid).


I have always felt that there must be a biological entity behind these “black panther” sightings. There are just too many incidents and too many credible witnesses to believe otherwise, in my opinion. If I am right and there is a real animal out there responsible for these sightings, what could it be? I’ve put forth several possibilities over the years: jaguarundi, jaguar, unusually dark-colored cougars, for example. Perhaps a combination of these three animals plus the occasional case of mistaken identity could explain the phenomenon? I’ve also entertained the idea, briefly, that maybe cougars in the wild do occasionally exhibit melanism as well as the possibility of an entirely undocumented large, dark-colored cat might exist in Texas and the deep South; however, the culprit most often suspected of being responsible for “black panther” sightings by those who think there is something to all of this is, without a doubt, the jaguar.


In the past, I’ve been very hesitant to jump on the jaguar (Panthera onca) bandwagon and anoint this big cat as the number one suspect in the hundreds of black cat sightings. Jags fit the bill as far as the size most often reported by “black panther” witnesses. People often describe “Labrador-sized,” or larger, cats with long tails. The jaguar is the largest cat in the New World and ranges in weight from 125-250 lbs. under normal conditions with some males reaching weights in excess of 300 lbs. (very rare). Color morphism does occur in the species with melanistic specimens appearing almost totally black in color. While much more rare than their normal rosette-coated brethren, melanistic jaguars make up approximately 6% of the total jaguar population. That being the case, why have I been hesitant to grasp the theory that “black panthers” may very well be remnant, or Northward wandering, jaguars?


The answer is simple. While 6% of the jaguar population is not an insignificant number of individuals, it still leaves 94% of the population with the normal spotted coats. IF the black panthers of Texas are melanistic jaguars then why is nobody seeing or reporting the much more commonly colored cats? If these are jags people are seeing, the spotted individuals have to be here too. If that is the case, then they would be easier to spot than those of the melanistic variety. Right?

Maybe not.


Spotted coats are a tremendous form of camouflage. It is the very reason so many wild cats are marked in this way. They are predators and need to be hard to see. Leopards, jaguars, bobcats, ocelots, margays, servals, cheetahs, young lions and young cougars all have spotted coats for part of, if not all, their lives. The spots allow these animals to blend into almost any form of cover as they break up the silhouette of the cat beautifully. I have come to the conclusion that maybe the large black cats being reported in the South are melanistic jaguars and they are being seen, while their spotted brethren are not, because their black coloration is not as effective a form of camouflage.


Allow me to demonstrate. Spread through out this post, is a series of photographs. In each photo there is a normally marked leopard or jaguar. These photos have all been circulating for some time now as a sort of “Where’s Waldo” game of find the cat. I’d seen them but not given them a lot of thought. Lately though, I’ve revisited them while considering them as something to study instead of just a hide-and-seek type of game. As you will see, or maybe not, the spotted coats of these cats make them all but impossible to detect while a solid black cat might stand out more. Imagine trying to spot one of these cats that is hunkered down in tall grass or a wooded area from a moving car or even as you walk through the woods. If it remains still, you aren’t going to see it.


As a matter of fact, just standing or sitting perfectly still in and of itself can keep an animal well hidden. We, as humans, seem to depend on movement to a large extent in order to spot things. Add the fact that we, as a species, have become less and less in tune to nature and become unobservant, at best, and totally oblivious, at worst, and not many of these animals are going to be seen, not even those that are not thought of as having perfect camouflage. The photo below illustrates this point. See how long it takes you to see the wolf in the photo. Some will see the wolf quicker than others but there is no denying that he would be very easy to miss despite not sporting a spotted coat.


IF the “black panthers” of Texas are jaguars, then the much more common spotted cats are here, too. They are just going to be almost impossible to detect unless they cross a road directly in front of a vehicle. Jaguars were native to Texas and much of the deep South at one time. Maybe they are making a bit of a comeback, much as cougars appear to be doing, across much of their old range.

What a great story it would be if it turned out to be so.

5 comments:

  1. I have seen a spotted cat in Texas. I have seen it almost every day for about 2 weeks. then it was gone. As I have looked in to big cat I found out they move around as the food dose and I know that what I seen was a jag and they have been seen here for over the last 75 years as I talk to the old cowboys around Quanah Texas

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  2. Regarding the popularity of this subject with your blog, I heard Chester Moore Jr. say that he figured that there are probably five times as many black panther reports from Texas as bigfoot reports. (Heard here: http://is.gd/XXN20I)

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  3. In the early 2000s I came across one on our land. It was solid black and very large. What was most peculiar to me is that it was capable of jumping over a 4 ft fence with virtually no hinderance whatsoever. We live on 50 acres in the small farming town of Kosciusko, Tx. This past november, our neighbor saw one in our field. And I believe I just saw one this week at night. Our dog started barking, so i grabbed a flashlight and there was a large black animal in our field. Our dog will chase off coyotes, hogs, possums, etc but he was scared of this thing. It started running, but it turned for an instant and i saw it had yellow eye shine. Now i used our dog for a scale reference. Our dog is 50 lbs and this thing was double its size, hands down.

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  4. Can somebody tell me where the cat is in the picture with the bus

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  5. In reply to the Kosciusko Sighting above. I live in Runge Karnes County TX which is the next county from where Kosciusko is. In 2016 on a ranch in Runge TX we saw one of these big black cats close up enough to see the spots. Then in 2017 we saw one crossing Hwy 72 near the Karnes / DeWitt county line. Then in 2018 we saw another one at a ranch in Yoakum in DeWitt County TX

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