Finally sighted my first cryptid- Life Changed! Black Panther Sighting
Black American Tiger Sighting
The black American tiger is a melanistic big cat reported from the United States and Canada.
Apart from a few jaguars in the states bordering Mexico, the United States has no confirmed species of big cats that are ever black. Despite this there have been dozens of reports of melanistic big cats, many of which specifically describe the big cat as a mountain lion despite a melanistic mountain lion never being confirmed to exist. There is no authenticated case of a truly melanistic mountain lion. No specimen has been photographed or killed in the wild, nor has it ever been bred in captivity.
Sightings of jaguars in the south eastern US[]
Commonly referred to as "black panthers", melanistic jaguars are the same species as their lighter coated counterparts. Their dark coloration is attributed to an increase in melanin in the skin. The degree of melanism varies between individuals with some being darker than others. John Lawson, an early British naturalist explorer, did write that he saw a “tyger” once. He never went west of North Carolina, and he knew the difference between a cougar and a jaguar. This is probable evidence of a jaguar in North Carolina between 1700-1711. They were rare but present. Here’s his account:
| “ | Tygers are never met withal in the Settlement; but are more to the Westward, and are not numerous on this Side the Chain of Mountains. I once saw one, that was larger than a Panther and seem’d to be a very bold Creature. The Indians that hunt in those Quarters, say, they are seldom met withal. It seems to differe from the Tyger of Asia and Africa.
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A newspaper article from a June 1886 edition of the Donaldsonville Chief, may be the most recent documented proof of a jaguar east of the Mississippi River. A big cat had been killing cattle in Ascension Parish, Louisiana which is 10 miles east of the Mississippi River. Allen Martin and Johnny Walker tracked the big cat down and sicked their dogs on it. The cat killed 3 of the dogs before one of the hunters “laid it low” with a rifle shot. They reported that it was 8 feet long and weighed 250 pounds, and they referred to it as an “American tiger,” not a panther.