Based on records from camera-traps, melanistic leopards occur foremost in tropical and subtropical moist forests, but have not been recorded in open and arid habitats. Unconfirmed reports of black leopards exist also in South Africa and in northern Iran. In North Africa, dark leopards have been reported in the Atlas Mountains. Melanistic leopards occur in Ethiopia and in the Aberdare Mountains in Kenya. orientalis). Black leopards are common in the equatorial rainforest of the Malay Peninsula and the tropical rainforest on the slopes of some African mountains such as Mount Kenya. Melanistic leopards are common in Java, and are reported from densely forested areas in southwestern China, Myanmar, Assam and Nepal, from Travancore and some parts of southern India where they may be more numerous than spotted leopards. kotiya), Arabian leopard and Amur leopard ( P. It is thought that melanism may confer a selective advantage under certain conditions since it is more common in regions of dense forest, where light levels are lower. Recently, preliminary studies also suggest that melanism might be linked to beneficial mutations in the immune system.ĭata on the distribution of leopard populations indicates that melanism occurs in seven subspecies: Javan leopard ( P. Melanistic and non-melanistic animals can be littermates. Close examination of the color of these black cats will show that the typical markings are still present, but are hidden by the excess black pigment melanin, giving an effect similar to that of printed silk.
Melanism in the jaguar is conferred by a dominant allele, and in the leopard ( Panthera pardus) by a recessive allele.
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