Panther

In 1788, Jean-Claude Delamétherie described a black panther that was kept in the Tower of London and had been brought from Bengal. In 1794, Friedrich Albrecht Anton Meyer proposed the scientific name Felis fusca for this cat, the Indian panther (P. p. fusca). In 1809, Georges Cuvier described a black leopard kept in the Ménagerie du Jardin des plantes that had been brought from Java. Cuvier proposed the name Felis melas, the Javan panther (P. p. melas). By the late 19th century, the occurrence of black and spotted panther cubs in the same litter had been repeatedly recorded in India. Black leopards were thought to be more common in Travancore and in the hills of southern India than in other parts of the country. Black panthers were also frequently encountered in southern Myanmar. By 1929, the Natural History Museum, London had skins of black panthers collected in South Africa, Nepal, Assam and Kanara in India. Black panthers were thought to be common on the Malay Peninsula and on Java.

A black African panther (P. p. pardus) was sighted in the alpine zone of Mount Kenya in the winter of 1989–1990. In Kenya's Laikipia County, a black panther was photographed by a camera trap in 2007; in 2018, a female subadult black panther was repeatedly recorded together with a spotted panther about 50 km (31 mi) farther east in tropical and subtropical grasslands, savannas, and shrublands.

In 1801, Félix de Azara described a black panther observed by local people near the Paraná River in Paraguay. In 2004, a female black panther was recorded in Mexico's Sierra Madre Occidental. In 2009, a black panther was photographed by a camera trap for the first time in Costa Rica's Alberto Manuel Brenes Biological Reserve. In Barbilla National Park, black panthers were recorded in 2013. In the mountains of the Cordillera de Talamanca, 104 records of panthers were obtained between 2010 and 2019; 26 of them showed melanistic panthers. In eastern Panama, black panthers were repeatedly photographed in the Mamoní River Valley between 2016 and 2018, mostly in primary forest. Melanism in the panther is caused by deletions in the melanocortin 1 receptor gene and conferred by a dominant allele.

There is no authenticated case of a truly melanistic cougar. No specimen has been photographed or killed in the wild, nor has it ever been bred in captivity. Unconfirmed sightings known as the "North American black panther" are currently attributed to errors in species identification by non-experts, and by the mimetic exaggeration of size.