Black Panthers
Note that the so called "black panther" is not a species of cat. Black panthers are simply large black cats and many cat species including leopards, jaguars, cougars, servals, ocelots, bobcats and Pampas cats have black variants. Their black coats are due to a genetic defect called melanismn.Melanistic cats often appear black because their background fur is a dark brown colour instead of the normal tan. Melanistic spotted cats still have spots, which are visible in bright sunlight. As melanism is a recessive gene, two black parents will only have black cubs. Two spotted parents can have black cubs if they both carry the recessive gene and mixed litters are common. The number of black cubs is determined by normal Mendelian genetics and on average one in four of the cubs would be black and three out of four spotted.
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