Paint It Black

Jaguar    Panthera  onca

The Panther

His weary glance, from passing by the bars,
Has grown into a dazed and vacant stare;
It seems to him there are a thousand bars
And out beyond those bars the empty air.


The pad of his strong feet, that ceaseless sound
Of supple tread behind the iron bands,
Is like a dance of strength circling around,
While in the circle, stunned, a great will stands.

But there are times the pupils of his eyes
Dilate, the strong limbs stand alert, apart,
Tense with the flood of visions that arise
Only to sink and die within his heart.

 Rainer Maria Rilke, 1902

Sadly, there is no such animal as a black panther. Rather, the name  arose from the genus, Panthera, to which many big cats belong. 'Black Panther' is often used to describe jaguars and leopards, particularly those which are melanistic, or, having excessive black pigment in their skin. Typical markings are still visible, but the black colour dominates. Recent research hints that this genetic expression occurs to give a selective advantage to those predators that live in dense forest where there little light.