‘Black panther’ is a misnomer
“Everyone has heard of a black panther, which in reality, is just a leopard with black background fur, which obscures the cat’s spots. It is not a separate species; in fact, black furred and spotted cubs can be siblings born of the same litter,” explained Dr. Sriyanie Miththapala, quoting an extract about black panthers written by cat experts Dr. John Seidensticker and Dr. Susan Lumpkin.
Dr. Miththapala is currently a consultant to IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature) and has, for her doctoral dissertation, focused on the genetic and morphological variation in the leopard across its wide geographic distribution. As a consequence of her research, 27 subspecies of leopards were subsumed into eight. She confirmed that the Sri Lanka subspecies was unique to Sri Lanka.
When contacted by the Sunday Times, she was categorical that ‘black’ and ‘spotted’ leopards are not two different species.
She further quotes Dr. Seidensticker and Dr. Lumpkin: “Known as melanism, black fur in leopards and domestic cats is the result of a single recessive gene for coat colour. (A recessive gene is one that shows up a characteristic — in this case melanism — only if an individual has inherited a copy from each of its parents.) If you look closely at a black leopard at a zoo, you will be able to make out the spots on its coat.
“In contrast, in jaguars, melanism occurs as a result of a dominant gene. (A dominant gene shows up a characteristic even if an individual has inherited only one copy from one of its parents.)
“Melanistic or black individuals appear in many, if not all species (of wild cats) but do so frequently among leopards, jaguars, margays, ocelots . . .”
Dr. Miththapala adds that as such the ‘black panther’ is a misnomer. It is not a separate species of leopard. It is not even a separate sub- species of leopard.
Referring to a paper co-authored by wellknown leopard researchers Andrew Kittle and Anjali Watson, she says that it shows that melanism in leopards is about 11% worldwide and that it is associated with habitats. In moist Asian forests, melanism was higher than in dry and open areas.
Dr. Miththapala wishes that this hype surrounding the ‘discovery’ of the black leopard could be turned instead towards the conservation of leopards in Sri Lanka.