Bronx Zoo 2010 - Front of Black Panther exhibit in Jungle World

Does anyone know what subspecies of leopard these black leopards are?

I'm guessing there - African Leopard (Panthera pardus pardus)

Very unlikely. There was a good discussion here a few years ago about whether or not there are any melanistic leopards found in Africa, let alone in zoos.

The original black leopards at Jungleworld were siblings that came from a Polish zoo. That was more than 20 years ago, so these are almost certainly from another source, but I would be greatly surprised if they were anything other than "generic" leopards of Asian descent.

The original black leopards at Jungleworld were siblings that came from a Polish zoo. That was more than 20 years ago, so these are almost certainly from another source, but I would be greatly surprised if they were anything other than "generic" leopards of Asian descent.[/QUOTE]


Thank you for the information. It was very useful. So would you be saying that there are more melanistic leopards from asian descent then african?

If their website is accurate, Naples Zoo has African Leopards, and some of them are black.

I've seen the leopards at Naples and while its not impossible that these are pure-bred African I don't think they are - probably generic 'zoo' animals with some african in them.

What happened to the black leopards at the JungleWorld exhibit at the Bronx Zoo?

@Matthew Guimac think the last one died around 2018. Currently an Amur leopard lives in that habitat despite the biogeographic inaccuracy of this (doubtless because they’re the only subspecies with an AZA program in the US).