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Panthera onca
The only Panthera species found in the Americas, its range extends from southern US and Mexico to Argentina. It is listed as a near-threatened species and its numbers are declining. This is a melanistic jaguar, a colour morph which occurs at about 6% frequency in populations.
Photographed at the Toronto Zoo
Spotted on Aug 9, 2009
Submitted on May 9, 2011
11 Comments
Thanks patty! :)
Beautiful jaguar; it is sad to read that they are a near-threatened species, as most big cats...
nice picture rachel
oh baby, you are majestic!
Thanks Amber and Fadoua! :)
Glorious...
She looks so peaceful. Great pic!
Identifying the big cats can be a bit confusing...this is in fact a melanistic jaguar, I've posted a picture of her mate who is a regular spotted jaguar http://www.projectnoah.org/spottings/618...
You can use this website for identifying cats by their spots http://a-v-p.tumblr.com/post/4286817340/...
The black panther is a bit more confusing because that can actually refer to numerous different big cats. Here's what I got off wikipedia - Wild black panthers in Latin America are black jaguars (Panthera onca), in Asia and Africa they are black leopards (Panthera pardus), and in North America they may be black jaguars or possibly black cougars (Puma concolor – although this has not been proven to have a black variant), or smaller cats.
Carolina I agree this one is dark or melanistic skinned.
Jaguars are mostly spotted colour.
That's a misleading name, Ashish. This is a melanistic jaguar.
Black Panther.