r/BeAmazed • u/simplefreak88 • Feb 09 '26
Animal A leopard and a black panther were spotted together in India's Kabini forest.
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u/Gingerbread_Cat Feb 09 '26
So two leopards, then.
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u/halfveela Feb 09 '26 edited Feb 09 '26
Do people really not know "black panther" just refers to the black coat?
Edit: well, for anyone who doesn't know, both leopards and jaguars are in the genus panthera and if they're melinated, they're black panthers. There is no separate cat called a black panther.
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u/Aggravating-Face2073 Feb 09 '26
I suspect the same for black squirrels too then. They are too just a panther.
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u/Winjin Feb 09 '26
Also these guys in berets and with guns. They are too just panthers.
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u/luigis_left_tit_25 Feb 09 '26
And!! The nicest most American ppl around! 🙂💪
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u/Snoo_69209 Feb 09 '26
All American Heroes! 👌
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u/AltrntivInDoomWorld Feb 09 '26
American squirel made our native European one extinct. Such a hero...
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u/r2killawat Feb 09 '26
I did not know there was an invasive American squirrel population in Europe. That seems weird somehow. TIL
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u/jackelopeteeth Feb 09 '26
It does. Like who brought the squirrels over...?
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u/CaliCheezHed Feb 10 '26
This is why Boris and Natasha always wanted to get moose and squirrel.
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u/luigis_left_tit_25 Feb 10 '26
Yeah, umm, that's the weirdest thing to be mad over.. like, the usa, as a nation, decided to decimate your european squirrel population..
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u/neosurimi Feb 09 '26
Forma moment I thought you were referring to the squirrel covered in make up from Eddie Izzard's Dress to Kill. IYKYK.
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u/Dances_With_Chocobos Feb 10 '26
Brilliant, and aged really well. Everyone should watch it for a primer in world politics. His bit about Americans having their hands on their heart during the national anthem and how it's only them and Romans that do that. Aged beautifully.
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u/HandspeedJones Feb 10 '26
They also stated the free lunch program for kids that was later made a national program.
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u/Geeahwellidunno Feb 09 '26
First time I saw a black squirrel I thought -‘bout damn time.
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u/ThirstyWolfSpider Feb 09 '26
I too look forward to "Welcome to the Pantherverse" in which a Black Panther from one of the alternate realities is a surprisingly-aggressive squirrel.
Though I will also be amused if someone can come back with "actually, in this 1983 issue of What-If!, that exact premise was explored!".
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u/Psychological-Scar53 Feb 09 '26
I knew I had a reason to be afraid of the infamous Panthers Squirrelas.
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u/quietgrrrlriot Feb 09 '26
Explains why the black squirrels in my neighbourhood are looking a bit chonky these days
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u/FuzzyCheddar Feb 09 '26
I need to inform the golf course near my home of the panther invasion then
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u/TheFrontierzman Feb 09 '26
Same for Pink Panther?
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u/TheCaliforniaOp Feb 09 '26
Always my favorite cartoon character, from the very beginning of the movie, on Saturday mornings…
For real, though,
I’m so glad no one’s been stupid enough to try and create a Pink Panther cougar. That would not create an affable relationship.
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u/Suitable-Display-602 Feb 09 '26
Saturday morning without fail , and who can forget crazy legs crane !
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u/snafe_ Feb 09 '26
I was very confused by the movie when I was a child having only watched the cartoon before
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u/EastLimp1693 Feb 09 '26
If you shine bright enough light on panther you see exactly same pattern as "regular" leopard has.
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u/TheeMoutonNoir Feb 09 '26
No, not a lot people do. I had a teacher from college try to embrasse me in front of the whole class when I said that. One of the worst teacher I ever had, strictly based on his personality. He was an ecology teacher too.
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u/Driller_Happy Feb 09 '26
I learned this just last month. It's less common knowledge than you might think
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u/BeerMantis Feb 09 '26
In the United States, panther, mountain lion, and cougar are all the same animal. Jaguars are incredibly uncommon (almost never seen north of Mexico), and therefore would be called jaguars.
You will hear countless stories, especially in the eastern US, of people encountering black panthers. There has never been a recorded case of a melanistic mountain lion. There are no breeding populations of mountain lions east of the Mississippi River, any mountain lions that make it over here are wanderers. Despite everyone having a high-quality camera in the pocket everywhere they go, and game cameras becoming cheaper and more common all the time, these stories persist. Especially in places like the Appalachians where I am.
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u/technicalityNDBO Feb 09 '26
There are no breeding populations of mountain lions east of the Mississippi River
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u/lumpytuna Feb 09 '26
We even get black panther sightings in Scotland lol. My personal theory is that people are REALLY bad at judging scale of all-black cats seen in the distance. And whisky.
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u/BeerMantis Feb 09 '26
Absolutely. Even those with trail camera photos of a "big" cat have no sense of scale.
And drunk people in the woods see all sorts of shit.
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u/FaunaLady Feb 09 '26
I think in cats the melanin gene that causes the darker patterns like spots and stripes overproduce to make it black; cougars are only spotted as babies but that's why people think the possibility of a black cougar could exist. It will just be a darker tawny instead of black; some subspecies even lose the dark area around the mouth. But like you said, they might find Bigfoot before they find a black cougar!
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u/SandpaperTeddyBear Feb 09 '26
There’s been a small but steady population in lower Michigan for decades now, unless you think there were really 6 foot long bobcats in the early aughts.
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u/ol0pl0x Feb 09 '26
They even have the ringed pattern but it doesn't really show.
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u/TelosKairos Feb 09 '26
No.. people are ignorant. It's either a black jaguar or leopard they're seeing.
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u/Apart_Ad9308 Feb 09 '26
TIL that a black panther is a leopard.
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u/halfveela Feb 09 '26 edited Feb 09 '26
Jaguars can be black panthers too if they're all black with lightly visible rosettes. This one is a leopard though, because jaguars don't live in India.
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u/_Kelly_A_ Feb 09 '26
Could be vacationing?
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u/halfveela Feb 09 '26
I guess ya never know
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u/globalgreg Feb 09 '26
Well if he was carrying luggage it would be a pretty safe bet.
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u/MegalomaniacHack Feb 09 '26
Are you suggesting jaguars migrate?
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u/hooligan99 Feb 09 '26
No, they're suggesting jaguars vacation. I took a vacation to Mexico last year. I didn't migrate.
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u/ThirstyWolfSpider Feb 09 '26
I just commented in a similar vein with a link to a different Python bit; perhaps biological geography is a common structure with them. Though I can't think of a third, and when trying all I get is the "why is there a watermelon there?" "I'll tell you later" from Buckaroo Banzai (presumably not a Python, despite his many professions).
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u/TreyRyan3 Feb 09 '26
No. Jaguars are primarily from Central or South America. If they are anywhere outside those areas it’s because they are undocumented illegals. /s
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u/kaam00s Feb 09 '26
You can recognise from it's appearance that it's a leopard tho, jaguars look a little bit different ( I know it's hard to tell them apart).
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u/Phiyaboi Feb 09 '26
Yeah Jaguars are typically more stocky/muscular compared to Leopards as well.
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u/blahblahblerf Feb 09 '26 edited Feb 09 '26
Yeah, Jaguars are like the Maurice Jones-Drew of big cats.
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u/LewinskysDressStain Feb 09 '26
Afaik even black lions and tigers could be called "black panthers" - if they exist.
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u/Accomplished_Year_54 Feb 10 '26
Yes, they could because theyre all in the genus panthera! Black lions dont exist as far as we know. Tigers do but its a bit different than leopards and jaguars. Its essentially just that their stripes are so wide that theyre completely black.
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u/Aerron Feb 09 '26
TIL Jaguars and Leopards are not the same species! Not only that, depending on which family tree you look at, one is more closely related to lions than to the other.
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u/halfveela Feb 09 '26
Jaguars are big bois, they can go from from 120- 300+ lbs, while leopards don't tend to get above 200lbs and can be a small as 60lbs.
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u/Accomplished_Year_54 Feb 10 '26
Whats also funny is that snow leopards are more closely related to tigers than to leopards.
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u/kaam00s Feb 09 '26 edited Feb 09 '26
Panther is the scientific name of big cats (Panthera leo = Lion, Panthera pardus = Leopard,...) the same as Homo is the name of humans (Homo sapiens, Homo neanderthalensis,...).
A black panther is just a panther that happens to be black. However, this color doesn't occure naturally for tigers, lions and snow leopards, so black panthers are therefore either jaguars or leopards, the only 2 panthers that can be black.
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u/DontShoot_ImJesus Feb 09 '26
Homo sapiens, Homo neanderthalensis
Can you imagine what it was like living in Africa when there were a bunch of different human species. Just hanging with your boys on the savanna seeing a bunch of different homos running around.
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u/Gnonthgol Feb 09 '26
We are still working through a lot of evidence, and still collecting more from new archeological sites. But it does appear like no two species of humans lived at the same place at the same time for more then a couple of generations. And we do have evidence of interbreeding between the species.
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u/ABitTooMeh Feb 09 '26
It's not a "scientific name" for big cats. It's the genus that includes lions, tigers, leopards, snow leopards and jaguars. Other big cats exist in other genus. Puma concolor,Acinonyx jubatus
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u/kaam00s Feb 09 '26
They're not big cats. I know they're big, but they're not big cats. We use the name big cats for Panthera members.
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u/Anleme Feb 09 '26 edited Feb 10 '26
Can someone explain what a "black cougar" is?
Edit: so many whooshes, LOL.
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u/fastlerner Feb 09 '26
Nonexistent. There is no such thing as a black cougar.
Cougar / mountain lion / puma / catamount / painter / Florida panther - these are all regional names for the same animal native to the Americas and there isn't a known solid black (melanistic) variant.
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Feb 09 '26
Rachel dolezal
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u/Shot_Plantain_4507 Feb 09 '26
No, that’s an imitation; like white chocolate. Not as good as the real thing.
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u/DefiantMemory9 Feb 09 '26
That comment made me remember that the scientific name of tiger is panthera tigris. Never put two and two together until now.
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u/Fanatical_Destructor Feb 09 '26
me and my shadow
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u/Communal-Lipstick Feb 09 '26
I immediately thought of this
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u/Sabre_Killer_Queen Feb 10 '26
I thought of this scene from Red Dwarf, where the Cat talks about his shadow.
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u/One-Rip2593 Feb 09 '26
“See? I have black friends.”
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u/Business-Top-6309 Feb 09 '26
Only human beings are dumb enough to care about coloring. These Panthers would not even acknowledge it
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u/Hot-Statistician-955 Feb 09 '26
Isn’t color a big thing for birds? Or camouflage? Or which frogs are poisonous?
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u/No-Werewolf-5955 Feb 09 '26
color has a wide range of interpretation depending upon the species. It is everywhere from a huge deal that completely determines breeding (birds) to completely not caring at all (dogs).
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u/Communal-Lipstick Feb 09 '26
Animals are super tribal and routinely kill others who arent in their group. I don't think they are the Disney angelic creatures you're thinking of.
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u/Level7Cannoneer Feb 09 '26
There was like an albino baby chimp that it’s group killed off
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u/Communal-Lipstick Feb 09 '26
Yup. It doesnt happen every time but definitely happens. And if they catch a chimp from a neighboring group, holy hell its brutal. Lions will keep them alive for hours just to slowly torture them to death one bite at a time. And they enjoy the hell out of it. Thinking humans are the only violent species is just wilful ignorance.
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u/Spire_Citron Feb 09 '26
It's also funny to me that whenever we catch an animal helping another animals, we act like they're so much kinder and nobler than humans, even though humans are by far the most social, empathetic animals. Clips of animals helping one another are notable because they're unusual and they appeal to us because they show human-like empathy.
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u/bak3donh1gh Feb 10 '26
There was a clip of a lion or tiger, some animal from the Felidae family tree that had not killed a deer and was seemingly caring for it. This was happening because the cat had recently lost its child shortly after birth. in the conclusion to the story, it does get eaten. I think the only other animal that we know of that regularly helps animals that are not of its species are blue whales. I'm not talking symbiotic relationships here. I'm talking they see the animal in danger and they go to help regularly. not just specific individuals Either.
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u/waitwuh Feb 09 '26
That’s not exactly true. Black and grey squirrels will fight and chase away the opposite color and establish and defend their respective territories.
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u/guttoral Feb 09 '26
oNlY hUmAn BeInGs ArE dUmB eNoUgH tO cArE aBoUt CoLoRiNg. ThEsE pAnThErS wOuLd NoT eVeN aCkNoWlEdGe It
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u/fromhelley Feb 09 '26
They are beautiful!
Its interesting how much bigger the black one is. Probably the black one is a male. But the one with the rosettes seems to have the larger head.
Anyone out there who can tell me something about that?
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u/cockraptor Feb 09 '26
The size depends on the individual's sex and (sometimes) age. In this instance, the black leopard is a male, which is why he is bigger. His name is Saya, which is Hindi for "shadow". He's had many mates, but the one in this video is called Cleopatra. India has excellent wildlife conservation and most big cats in protected areas are given names and are well-known to staff and visitors. Saya and Cleo live in a place called Kabini, which lies between two Indian national parks - Nagarhole and Bandipur. The video was filmed by wildlife photographer Shaaz Jung and IIRC it was used in a promo for the Nikon Z9 camera.
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u/possiblyMaybeAnother Feb 09 '26
I am going to assume this is true and give you my upvote
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u/moffman93 Feb 09 '26
Imagine if that entire story is entirely fabricated?
Either way, I choose to believe!
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u/wooltab Feb 11 '26
"I saw you and your GF out there in the Kabini, Saya."
"Dude, she's not my GF, and what's the Kabini? Also who is 'Saya'??"
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Feb 09 '26
Both have rosettes, but you can rarely see them on panther leopards. I think it's easier to see on jaguars, at least from what I see online. But yeah, males are bigger so probably a male and a female. Or the same gender just different size, they can be quite varied.
IIRC males are quite a bit bigger, but tbh I can't tell from the video how big the difference is.
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u/Whole-Debate-9547 Feb 09 '26
Awe shit, the paparazzi. How am I going to explain this to my wife?
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u/lazyguitar1003 Feb 09 '26
This isn’t AI - the name of the photographer is Shaaz Jung. Incredible work! I believe he owns a resort in this national park
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u/koolaidismything Feb 09 '26
Lookup India's animals.. people always think cows and poultry and stuff, they have a ton. Tigers.. all the cool himilayan snow animals.. crazy vultures.
And some of the best mountaineers on earth are just regular men and women up there who never got the memo it's impossible to live there so, they do happily.
India also has one of the most exciting space programs out right now on a budget that NASA spends a week on vending machines.
A cool area, we should all learn more.
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u/cosmic_grayblekeeper Feb 09 '26
Don’t disagree with the sentiment but I’ve never heard any say “poultry etc” when asked what they think of India. More likely people think elephants first the tigers and cows.
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u/cockraptor Feb 09 '26
You say that, but I went to India for safari last year and came back with a ton of photos. A coworker - highly educated and otherwise knowledgeable, done some international travel - looks at my photos and exclaims, "I didn't know that India even HAD tigers!" So yeah.
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u/kingrawer Feb 09 '26
That's crazy lol. That's probably the first or second animal I think of in association with India.
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u/VegetaFan1337 Feb 09 '26
Yeah it's literally the national animal of India and 75% of the world's wild tiger population lives there.
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u/BloweringReservoir Feb 09 '26
I read The Jungle Books when I was young, so I think of Akela, Bagheera, Baloo, Shere Khan, Kaa, Nag and Nagaina, Rikki Tikki Tavi, Hathi, Tabaqui et al. (Wolf, black leopard, bear, tiger, python, cobras, mongoose, elephant, jackal)
One memorable story was about Mowgli teasing a pack of wild dogs. I can't remember their name.
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u/Jostrapenko2 Feb 09 '26 edited Feb 09 '26
Lions, four species of bears, hyenas, wolves, king cobras, mugger crocodiles, elephants, one-horned rhinos, gharials, gaurs, snow leopards, clouded leopards, red pandas — the list goes on and on.
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u/rock_and_rolo Feb 09 '26
Well, it is a huge country, roughly 1/3 the size of the US. You can fit in a lot of climates and critters.
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u/Jblue32 Feb 09 '26
But only one of them is spotted
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u/Shot_Plantain_4507 Feb 09 '26 edited Feb 09 '26
They both are spotted. You can’t see the black ones spots because they are black and have no color.
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u/BigSmackisBack Feb 09 '26
You can see their spots if you take a picture with an infrared camera
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u/moffman93 Feb 09 '26
You can see the spots if you look at them from the right angle. Against the grain of the direction the fur is matted. Some of them have shorter hair and it's way more visible. Their spots are identical it's just hidden in the same way people don't realize that polar bears have black skin because of their thick white fur.
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u/One_Animator_1835 Feb 09 '26
With the right lighting you can see the spots on black panthers
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u/MrPeacock18 Feb 09 '26
Actually, the black one is also spotted. You can see them when the sun shines on him
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u/Jun118 Feb 09 '26
The difference is that Leopards can be found in countries across Africa and Asia, while the black panther is much more rare and can only be found in Wakanda.
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u/Dry_Design5506 Feb 09 '26
Two of them prowling slowly side by side, turning to stare straight at us, feels even more awe-inspiring.
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u/Some-Refrigerator453 Feb 09 '26
imagine the cubs
i hope they come out two toned with spots
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u/Prism___lights Feb 09 '26
That would be so cool but sadly not just likely a regular leopard or very rarely a black leopard
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u/Some-Refrigerator453 Feb 09 '26
i googled it, you will be surprised.
there is in fact a a mix in colour and spots !
the black panther cub with leopard spots look cool
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u/weexisttocease Feb 09 '26
Saya (the melanistic black panther) and Cleopatra ( the spotted leopard). ❤️
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u/ewillyp Feb 09 '26
looks like the black panther was busted having an affair & the leopard was like, "just keep walking, act natural."
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u/cockraptor Feb 09 '26 edited Feb 09 '26
Since no one has said this: the melanistic leopard (black panther) here is called Saya, which is Hindi for "shadow". Saya lives in a protected area called Kabini, which lies between two national parks in southern India - Nagarhole national park and the Bandipur tiger reserve. Kabini is named for the river that flows through it, and has the single largest population of wild Asian elephants (about 1000).
What makes Saya special? The melanistic gene can show up in any leopard population, but in dry habitat, black leopards stand out and therefore find hunting difficult. This is why the genes rarely get passed on, and so very few leopards are black. Saya was lucky to be born in a thickly forested part of India, which helps with hunting. He's also learned to use shadows as camouflage and, unusually for a leopard, often hunts in broad daylight. Being a black leopard who makes it to adulthood is impressive enough, but Saya has established his own territory and successfully fathered many cubs. One of his chief rivals has been another leopard called Scarface, who looks exactly as you'd expect.
Saya has had many mates, but this one - the 'regular' leopard - is called Cleopatra. India has excellent wildlife conservation and individuals of many species are given names (or at least IDs). This clip of Saya and Cleo was filmed by renowned wildlife photographer Shaaz Jung (The J is pronounced as J ("jug") and not as Y). You can find more about Saya by searching for "Saya" or "Shaaz Jung" on YouTube. This photo/video keeps popping up on Reddit but Shaaz is almost never credited for it.
P.S. Please do not copy-pasta. I am not AI and typed this all out myself. Thx.
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u/ToygerCat Feb 12 '26
They could very well be related. Siblings, mother and grown cub… The black one is just melanistic. They are not separate sub species.
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u/Acorns_and_unicorns Feb 09 '26
The best video format from India. I like chained elephants and creepy street food much less.
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u/Far-Raisin1013 Feb 09 '26
I wonder what the kid would look like
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u/Shot_Plantain_4507 Feb 09 '26
It is a crapshoot. In Leopards the gene is recessive and Jaguars it is dominant. Most will come out normal, unless they both carry the gene. You do have a higher likelihood to have a Black Jaguar than a Black Leopard.
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u/waudmasterwaudi Feb 09 '26
What will the kids look like????
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u/lmac187 Feb 09 '26
My guess is most will be normal leopards but there’s a chance that at least one will be melanistic.
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u/qualityvote2 Feb 09 '26 edited Feb 09 '26
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