ISIS records show 10 separate races of leopards in the world's zoos. I'm aware that black leopards occur within some of these races, such as the Indian leopard, but is this common across most races? Are there, for instance, ever black Amur leopards? (Anyone?)
A very interesting subject- melanism generally. I don't know if its ever been recorded in either African or Indian leopards in the wild. It may have in captivity but in that case the gene may have been passed via a subspecific crossing with an animal from e.g. S.E. Asia where black leopards are commoner. To answer the 2nd part of the question- I believe melanism was thought not to occur in the temperate races at all. However here in the UK some years ago an Amur leopard at the Cotswold Wildlife Park gave birth to twins, one of which was black- the first known incidence in this race and as far as I know the parents were completely pure. The black cub was later sent to the Thrigby Wildlife Park(Norfolk) where I saw it as an adult( I can't remember its sex but i think it is still there) living with a normal partner. I've never heard of 'black' occurring in any other temperate race, or another example.
In Zürich (Swiss) was the male Amur-Leopard black. A few years ago i saw in TV a show about black Cats (Jaguar, Serval, Leopard) and there was shown a wild living black african Leopard.
There used to be 3 Black Leopards in the Welsh Mountain Zoo up until 2005 when they and the Persian Leopards dissapeared and were replaced by Snow Leopards, a shame if you ask me.
Melanism is surprisingly very common in felids; most species have had some example, at least historically. Experts consider it occurs most commonly in tropical forest species/populations such as jaguars and Malaysian leopards. However why does it occur in servals (in montain grassland) and probably not (or at least very rarely) in forest-living tigers? I haven't heard of accounts of black leopards in Africa, although the highly endangered Zanzibar population does have alot of very small spots. I too have seen the black individual at Thrigby Hall. I understand that the captive Amur population are 'contaminated' with a North Chinese founder. This could be a reason for the occurance in the Amurs, although I doubt there are any differences between the two and imagine the habitat is pretty similar. It's maybe as simple as a historical bottleneck in the population (of course there is a current one too!).
I've seen that film footage of a black Serval though I've no idea why it should occur in that montane population- just chance? There are many stories of 'black' or melanistic tigers but I've never seen any evidence produced. Maybe there's just no black gene present in tigers? I have seen film of some tigers somewhere in India which had an unusual striping pattern with thicker stripes than usual -though it wasn't mentioned in the film..... Regarding the Leopards- North Chinese and Amur must both be similar temperate races so melanism is still pretty unusual in these. Someone posted above there's another Black Amur leopard at Zurich. I also believe blacks occur less commonly in African or Indian leopards compared to S.E. Asia.ones.
Actually I've never seen any footage of a black serval! Only ever heard references to them living in the Aberdares in Kenya. The leopard population in peninsular Malaysia is particularly well-known for the high % of black leopards.
In the show I saw it were said, that it was very rare fotage of the black Serval (on grasland on higher levels) and the black leopard (in mountain rainforest). But the shots didn´t look fake. The black Amur-Leopard in Zürich I saw for myself in 1999 i think. Very impressiv. The keeper said that it was no hybrid of Leopard-Races, but for sure a Amur-Leopard.
Black jaguars are common too. The last jaguar that Taronga displayed was a big black male (named Ali.)
The black serval was certainly not fake... it was a genuine wild serval hunting in grassland. I wonder if the Zurich Black Amur leopard has been used for breeding ? Black Jaguars- formerly very rare but seemingly more common in zoos nowadays. In Hanover(?) Zoo many years ago I saw a 'partiallly melanistic' Jaguar- it was spotted but with pure black across its back. I've never seen another specimen like that anywhere.
I too have seen the black Amur leopard at Thrigby (UK) - it was a female. I attended a talk on Amur leopards that was v v interesting. From what I remember 1 of the 9 founder animals was not a pure-bred - and those chosen to breed from have to have x% of Amur genes. There are a few pure Amur leopards (I can't remember where) - but due to the v low genetic pool these have numerous health problems. Interestingly black Amur leopards are excluded from the breeding programme - therefore I guess the one at Thrigby would not be recommended for breeding - although I believe she has been bred from (but I could be wrong). Black leopards were also kept in a private collection in Herts (uK) - but the owner recently died and I am not sure what will happen to the collection. I believe these were not pure-bred
I have read that black Lepards occur all over Africa, but there are areas where they are more common. One place in Etheopia is ment to gave around 25% black lepards.
Didn't hear it from me but one female (?) is at Exmoor Zoo - representing the beast of Exmoor. Another one from the same place died recently.
My Avatar is a Black Jaguar that was kept at Auckland Zoo in the late 90's... Black Jag/Leopards occur in all other rainforest areas of their range, don't see why Africa would be any different...
Great link Sun Wukong, as I'd never seen a photo of a black serval. On a side note, there is a small business on Vancouver Island that specializes in breeding and selling servals as household pets. Catering to the wealthy, or a status symbol? Hmmm...
