This is an interesting read about the so called black panther.
We had a couple here where I hunt swear they saw a black panther and I saw it too,it was a short nose,long tailed dog that looked just like a big cat.[8D]
The black panthers are usually leapords,which there are not very many of in the states.
[
edit] Melanistic cougars
There are no authenticated cases of truly melanistic
cougars. Black cougars have been reported in
Kentucky and in the
Carolinas. There have also been reports of glossy black cougars from
Kansas and eastern
Nebraska. These have come to be known as the North American black panther. None has ever been photographed or shot in the wild and none has been bred. There is wide consensus among breeders and biologists that the animal does not exist and is a
cryptid. Sightings are currently attributed to errors in species identification by non-experts, and by the memetic exaggeration of size.
Historically, black panthers in the American Southeast feature prominently in
Choctaw folklore where, along with the
owl, they are often thought to symbolize
Death.
In his "Histoire Naturelle" (1749),
Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon, wrote of the "Black Cougar": "M. de la Borde, King’s physician at Cayenne, informs me, that in the [South American] Continent there are three species of rapacious animals; that the first is the jaguar, which is called the tiger; that the second is the couguar [sic], called the red tiger, on account of the uniform redness of his hair; that the jaguar is of the size of a large bull-dog, and weighs about 200 pounds (90kg); that the couguar is smaller, less dangerous, and not so frequent in the neighbourhood of Cayenne as the jaguar; and that both these animals take six years in acquiring their full growth. He adds, that there is a third species in these countries, called the black tiger, of which we have given a figure under the appellation of the black couguar."
"The head," says M. de la Borde, "is pretty similar to that of the common couguar; but the animal has long black hair, and likewise a long tail, with strong whiskers. He weighs not much above forty pounds. The female brings forth her young in the hollows of old trees." This black couguar is most likely a margay or ocelot, which are under forty pounds, live in trees, and do occur in a melanistic phase.
Another description of a black cougar was provided by Pennant: "Black tiger, or cat, with the head black, sides, fore part of the legs, and the tail, covered with short and very glossy hairs, of a dusky colour, sometimes spotted with black, but generally plain: Upper lips white: At the corner of the mouth a black spot: Long hairs above each eye, and long whiskers on the upper lip: Lower lip, throat, belly, and the inside of the legs, whitish, or very pale ash-colour: Paws white: Ears pointed: Grows to the size of a heifer of a year old: Has vast strength in its limbs.-- Inhabits Brasil and Guiana: Is a cruel and fierce beast; much dreaded by the Indians; but happily is a scarce species;" (
Pennant's Synops. of quad., p 180). According to his translator Smellie (1781), the description was taken from two black cougars exhibited in London some years previously.