Panthers anyone?

ZEKE · Joined: 13 Dec 2007 Posts: 436

ever since i was a little kid i have been attracted to black panthers. im not sure why but if anyone on here owns/works with panthers could they post some pics?

thanks.

**REXANO** · Site Admin Joined: 13 Dec 2007 Posts: 446

I don't have many pics of me, I am usually the one taking pics of others , or I am the one working with the cat and nobody is around to take pics, since the rest are busy cleaning/feeding the animals.
I mostly work with lions and tigers, I only 'hang out' with black leopards, meaning I interact with them, but I don't train them. They are too jumpy, I prefer big huggable animals like tigers and lions.
But here is one pic of me with male black leopard.
Zuzana

ZEKE · Joined: 13 Dec 2007 Posts: 436

thats a good pic Smile

thanks.

are black leopards and black panthers the same animal?

very nice looking cat. i wish i got to "hang out" with big cats. that sounds fun.

TamanduaGirl · Joined: 16 Dec 2007 Posts: 35

A panther is a mountain lion or cougar, same species. They haven't had a provable case of a black cougar so officially black panthers do not exist. It just sounds cool.
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ZEKE · Joined: 13 Dec 2007 Posts: 436

oh. so what are all the big black cats that show up if you google "black panther"?

TamanduaGirl · Joined: 16 Dec 2007 Posts: 35

Jaguars and leopards.
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ZEKE · Joined: 13 Dec 2007 Posts: 436

oh. well i still like em!

**REXANO** · Site Admin Joined: 13 Dec 2007 Posts: 446

The term ‘panther’ has been loosely used for leopards, jaguars and cougars, kind of like the term ‘Kleenex’ is used for any paper tissue, not just Kleenex brand name.

Cougars (also known as panthers, puma, mountain lion or catamount) are native to North and South America. They are born light brown with spots and eventually loose the spots. There is no ‘credible’ documented case of truly black cougar, other than this one old horrible B&W picture circulating on Internet. Average cougar is 70-150 pounds.

Jaguars come in black and spotted variety, are native to North and South America and average 150-300 pounds. Black ones are often called black panthers.

Leopards come in black and spotted variety, are native to Africa and parts of Asia, and like cougars, average 70-150 pounds. Black ones are often called black panthers too.

However, if you look at the black ones closely, you can see the spots, they r not truly black.

To an untrained eye, leopards and jaguars look alike, but there are differences, not just geographical.

As you can see above, jaguars are usually twice as big as leopards, jaguars are also have more stocky built, they have extremely powerful jaws and some call them the assassins of the cat world.

Also, when you look at the spots, the leopards do not have a complete ‘rosette’, it is just the circle consisting of spots, jaguars have a complete rosette there is a dot in the middle, kind of like a flower.

I don’t use the word panther as it tends to confuse many people.

Zuzana

PS: African serval cats are often called the giraffes of the cat world, because of their long necks and legs.

ZEKE · Joined: 13 Dec 2007 Posts: 436

wow thanks for that info!! i always thought a panther was another kind of cat. do you have any pics of a black Jaguar?

thanks again for clearing that up for me!

**REXANO** · Site Admin Joined: 13 Dec 2007 Posts: 446

No, I don't haver any experience or pics with jaguars.
Z

ZEKE · Joined: 13 Dec 2007 Posts: 436

oh okay. well thanks for the pic of the black leopard.

timbalionguy · Joined: 17 Dec 2007 Posts: 10

We have a black leopard at our zoo. He was OK when he was young, and I spent a lot of time playing with him. But now thta he is older, he does not like me much. I don't know why. He is the only cat in the zoo who truly does not like me. All of the lions/tigers like me, and so does the spotted leopard.

Leopards are not particularly easy cats to work with. That said, I have seen some remarkable work done with leopards, both as trained show animals and as privately held non-performing animals.

I know one person who had a black jaguar, and it was one of the best cats anyone has ever owned. Considering the 'cattiness' of leopards and jaguars, this was a truly remarkable cat.

Tim Stoffel

ZEKE · Joined: 13 Dec 2007 Posts: 436

wow. can you get pics of the black leopard? i wish i could get a big cat. my parents would flip out if i even asked lol.

Cynthia · Joined: 21 Dec 2007 Posts: 26

I have many pics, but no way to scan them (work computer)--I was lucky to have 2 scanned at old job which are in rexano gallery--but, one of my favorite cats is a leopard/jaguar cross named Spot owned by a pilot and his family--this cat spends time with the kids and grew up in their home where he spends weekends occasionally while they get their compound built. He presently lives with a cougar at the facility I used to work at. I love leopard sounds, when the female is in heat, it sounds like someone sawing wood--Spot chirps hello to me which is a different chirp than a cougar's. I also love to hear him and another black leopard growl internally at people they do not like, I just love that sound. I thought I had wanted a leopard, but I really like the hybrid cross--just the right amount of muscle and body mass, but not overwhelming as a tiger and lion can be. Only cared for one female jaguar, but she was striclty hands-off--she appeared in a Brooke Shield's movie years ago along with some chimps where I used to volunteer. Leopards and jags tend to be one person cats from what I have seen, they may tolerate another person but don't push it, or can it be that they are that way because the owners limit their contact with others?