Black Leopards
This section is about Khan the Asian Black Leopards. Sadly Mystique his life partner, died in 2011. Khan came to the WHF following the sad closure of Santago rare leopard project in 2009.
You may want to call these cats black panthers, but there's really no such animal. "Panther" is a generic work used to describe many large cats, especially black ones, but also Florida panthers which are just a subspecies of Cougar/Puma. Leopards and Jaguars are the most common “black cats”, they are often born in the same litter as the normal coloured cats, because the black colour, called melanism, is due to a recessive gene. So black cubs can be born to two spotted parents. The cats are actually dark brown, with the same pattern of black spots as any other leopard. There are no solid black big cats. Black leopards tend to be found more in rain forests and mountainous areas where their dark coat acts as better camouflage. They are particularly common in Asia on the Malayan Peninsula where a very large percentage of the known leopards are black.
You may want to call these cats black panthers, but there's really no such animal. "Panther" is a generic work used to describe many large cats, especially black ones, but also Florida panthers which are just a subspecies of Cougar/Puma. Leopards and Jaguars are the most common “black cats”, they are often born in the same litter as the normal coloured cats, because the black colour, called melanism, is due to a recessive gene. So black cubs can be born to two spotted parents. The cats are actually dark brown, with the same pattern of black spots as any other leopard. There are no solid black big cats. Black leopards tend to be found more in rain forests and mountainous areas where their dark coat acts as better camouflage. They are particularly common in Asia on the Malayan Peninsula where a very large percentage of the known leopards are black.
