Black African Leopard

[Bearbait1]

The recent thread about black panther in India got me wondering about black leopard in Africa. Does anyone have personal experience with black leopard in Africa? That would really be something to see. Black mountain lion in the US are so rare as to be practically nonexistent.

 

[Bearbait1]

TTT

 

[IvW]

I have seen one in the mountains of Lydenburg towards Ohrigstad in Mpumalanga province in broad daylight...beautiful creature. The rosettes are still visible.

What they look like...

 

[AfricaHunting.com]

Here is an article from a French paper: Un léopard noir photographié pour la première fois en Afrique depuis 1909: https://www.lemonde.fr/afrique/arti...fois-en-afrique-depuis-1909_5423306_3212.html

The article can easily be translated with Google Translate from French to English, see: https://translate.google.com/transl...fois-en-afrique-depuis-1909_5423306_3212.html

 

[Bearbait1]

Pretty critters. I dont ever recall reading about African black leopards in old hunting literature.

 

[Nyati]

Like this one on the left ?

Picture taken on a farm in Limpoo RSA

 

[Bearbait1]

I wonder if they can breed them with any consistancy?

 

[K981985]

Black mountain lions are non existent. There has never been a black ML confirmed. Photography has been around over s hundred years surely someone would have photographed one if they killed it. Even when ML had a bounty on them and hired government hunters and trappers killed as many as possible, no black ML. Even with tens of thousands of trail cameras strapped to trees across the country, no black ML, just fakes or pictures of someone’s house cat. There was for a time a doctor in Texas I believe that offered a million dollars for a black ML dead or alive , no one collected.
Leopards and jaguars have been killed and captured solid black, different species.

 

[Philip Glass]

I wonder if they can breed them with any consistancy?

No it doesn't work that way. Very rare.
Philip

 

[Bearbait1]

I said “practically” nonexistent because I cant say for sure that there is not one out there.
Their are many cases of mistaken identity like the picture posted recently on this forum of a black Jaguar in a zoo in Germany stating that it was a Texas lion.

 

[Ridgewalker]

I’ve only heard/read reports of black panthers in the US. Supposedly in Florida it is less rare. My parents neighbors in East Texas claimed a black panther killed one of their milk cows 3-4 years ago. Personally I think they may have just needed some money and the Texas Parks and Wildlife pays for wildlife damage.
Still, I’d really love to see one in person! That and Bigfoot!

 

[Bearbait1]

Ridgewalker, I think you are more likely to see a bigfoot!

 

[K981985]

Florida’s native population was so small they transplanted a bunch to Florida plain old Western state mountain lions. There is no difference between a mountain lion, panther, puma etc. just regional names for the exact genetic species. Just like a whitetail from Iowa is the same as a whitetail from Alabama. But saying all that there is no amount of books, scientific evidence, genetic studies or anything else that will convince the average American that not only are there black mountain lions but a panther is different and all Florida panthers are black. After all so and so Uncles cousin sees one deer hunting every year. I guess everyone sees them but don’t need the million dollar bounty? They are perfectly legal to shoot in Texas, black brown yellow ,panther, catamount, hill cat, Puma American Lion whatever you want to call it.
It however will never be black not now not a hundred years ago not a hundred years from now, sorry.

 

[spoonieduck]

I wonder if they can breed them with any consistancy?

They probably could. The black color is likely a recessive trait. If it were possible to obtain a black male,--such as occurs in southeast Asia--it should be possible to breed it with a wild-type spotted female. Any kittens would be spotted. If the black father were bred against one of his spotted daughters, about half of the offspring should be black. I think that this is the way the present population of white tigers was produced from a single white tiger captured from the wild. Also, I know a Mexican fellow who hunted jaguars for many years. He said there has never been a black MEXICAN jaguar. He said the black ones are almost all from the jungles and swamps of south America.

And the posters here are right about mountain lions. Despite numerous sightings of 'black panthers', none have ever been documented. I saw a Mexican mountain lion hanging up one time and, during life, might have mistaken as a black cougar. The lion was quite a young one. His black baby spots were fading out but simultaneously getting somewhat larger. The only other odd-colored cougar I've seen was a rug prepared over 60 years ago. It was a 'blue lion.' His coat was a powder-puff blue. I've searched to see if others have reported this color phase. The only thing I could find was reported by Theodore Roosevelt. He had an old trapper friend from, I think, Arizona. Roosevelt invited him to Washington D.C. for his inauguration. The trapper sent back a note. "One of my traps was tripped the other day. There were the hairs from the foot of a blue lion in the trap. I'm not leaving here until I catch it." I don't know if he caught it or not.

 

[Bearbait1]

Interesting

 

[Kouprey]

Hello Bearbait!
I know of a few cases of melanistic african leopards that were shot by hunters. It seems that they are sometimes seen high up in the mountains, mainly in Ethiopia and Kenya. In Asia, black leopards are apparently not so rare.

One black Leopard was taken years ago by a spanish client of PH Nassos Roussos in Ethiopia.

The well-known PH John Kingsley-Heath shot a black Leo, also in Ethiopia. He writes that the colour of the pelt started to fade after some years and was finally a chocolate-brown.

There's a picture of Elgin Gates and a black leopard pelt in his book "Trophy Hunter in Africa", i think it was taken in Kenya while Bongo hunting. Will have to look if Gates also writes about this Leopard, i only found the photo.

Thorold Murray-Smith, one of the oldtime White Hunters in East Africa, writes in his book "The Nature of the Beast" that he saw black Leopards on three different occasions! This must be a record, so many experienced hunters never saw a single one! Anyway, those cats were so beautiful, that Murray-Smith always refused to shoot and let them go...

And i remember the case of a black leopard killing gorillas in the Uganda Mountains. The story was repeatedly told by Walter Baumgartel, a german who had a resthouse there in the 1950s-1960s. Story is also in Brian Herne's "Uganda Safaris".

But black leopards are nothing, compared to the story of a BLUE TIGER in China, a man-eater as well, who ate several Chinese in the 1920s. The beast was tracked and hunted by the American hunter and missionary Harry Caldwell and his friend, explorer Roy Chapman-Andrews. Both men failed to killed the tiger, but Caldwell wrote the book "Blue Tiger" about it. Great story.

Best wishes:
Kouprey

 

[Bearbait1]

Thanks kouprey