• Auli@lemmy.ca
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    1 month ago

    But according to him this could just be cougars with melanistic colouring. As he says all cats with thet trait are black Panthers. Also since black Panthers are not a species how come their are no regular jaguars running around.

    • DragonTypeWyvern@midwest.social
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      1 month ago

      The premise is the population is based on escaped exotic pets. If those pets were a breeding pair of black panthers (whatever species that implies) they could simply be breeding true…

      Or no one is surviving seeing the traditionally colored jaguars!

      There is actually a North American panther, the Florida panther (which is of course a cougar) which would actually be a black panther with the coloring.

    • stray@pawb.social
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      1 month ago

      According to bigcatrescue.org, black coloration is more commonly found in forested areas with less light, which seems to fit the area. Black panthers of any species are capable of producing non-black cubs, but it seems they’re selected against in such environments.

      He shows pictures of black cougars in the video, and they have very distinct grey markings compared to the seeming all-black of other big cats.