The black panther is a very beautiful and graceful animal. Panther is associated with Kipling's Mowgli tale by most people. Remember Bagheera with her exquisite grace and imposingness? No wonder in the Sumerian mythology it is the animal panther that personifies the goddess of love and fertility.
Is Panther a Leopard?
In general, black panther is quite rare in nature. From the point of view of zoology, this is not a separate species of animal, but simply melanism
(genetic variant of color) observed in different representatives of the feline family. Usually, a leopard or jaguar falls into this category.
The black panther is an animal, to put it mildly, not completely black … Her skin is not perfectly black! If you look closely, you can see to a greater or lesser extent emerging spots. Zoologists do not distinguish between ordinary spotted and black leopards (who still do not understand, this is one and the same animal - panther and leopard). These individuals perfectly mate, quite numerous offspring are born. Cubs can be of various colors: from bright spotted to black with barely visible spots.
Watch out, predator!
Friends, the black panther is not only the most graceful wild cat, but also, perhaps, a real bloodthirsty beast! She is more fearless and cruel than tigers, lions and other dangerous animals. If she is hungry, then she doesn’t stand on ceremony with the choice of the “menu” … Throws herself at everything that moves, including the person.
Six meters above ground level …
One of the most famous skills of this graceful cat is flawless tree climbing. There panthers sometimes prey on … monkeys. Yes, and there’s nothing funny about it! They do this forcibly, because sometimes on the ground their caught prey can be taken away by lions or hyenas. Panthers also sleep and rest, too, on trees (like leopards). They stretch on strong branches, hanging their paws and tail down. The usual height at which these cats "hang" on trees is six meters above the ground.
Hunting
The Panther is simply an excellent hunter. In search of her prey, she sets off at night. It is easy to guess that in the dark this animal is almost impossible to see. And the predator creeps up absolutely silently. When the hunt is over, the cat drags the prey to the tree. As we said above, there the killed animal will not be accessible to hyenas and lions. Here she is - a panther (photo)!
This animal in length reaches about 1 meter and 80 centimeters, and its individual tail - up to a meter.
Usually the weight of these cats does not exceed half a centner, but in nature there were individuals in excess of 100 kilograms! Their habitats are tropical countries. Today, a lot of black panthers settled on the island of Java.
Interesting but fact
Without a doubt, this is a pretty intriguing animal. Panther, according to scientists, copulating with a lion, gave a hybrid - leopards (hence, by the way, the word "leo" in the name, as well as "pard" - an old version of the word "panther"). However, this intrigue was soon revealed. Now it is scientifically proven that the panther is still a subspecies of leopards. Today, zoologists do not exclude the possibility of the transition of panthers to an independent zoological form, that is, their separation from leopards.
