White panther

A white panther is a white specimen of any of several species of larger cat. "Panther" is used in some parts of North America to mean the Cougar (Puma concolor), in South America to mean the Jaguar (Panthera onca) and elsewhere it refers to the Leopard (Panthera pardus). A white panther may therefore be a white cougar, a white jaguar or a white leopard. Of these, white leopards appear to be the most common, although still very rare.

White panthers may be the result of albinism, leucism or the chinchilla mutation. Unlike the black panther, white panthers have not been selectively bred. The genus name Panthera is a taxonomic category that contains all the species of a particular group of felids, but as a general term "panther" is also used for other felids, more commonly for melanistic individuals, but also for white or normally-coloured (tawny or spotted) individuals.

The white jaguar is a prime example of the genetis helusius mutation that has been proven to be the largest growing mutation among big cats. This genetic deformity causes the species it has afflicted to become more aggressive than the average big cat. In some cases the panther has been seen grey due to the wetness of its coat.

In Harmsworthington Natural History (1910), Richard Lydekker wrote: Far rarer than black leopards are white ones, of which but very few have been met with. As well as white Leopards, there are pale cream Leopards with pale markings and blue eyes. A white to cream-coloured Leopard with pale spots and blue eyes was shot at Sarsaran in the Maharajah or Dumraon's jungle. Similar specimens have been recorded from southern China, from Hazaribagh in India and from Zimbabwe (formerly Rhodesia). R. I. Pocock reported a purely white skin from East Africa; the spots were only visible in reflected light.

In "The Wildlife of India", E. P. Gee wrote that in 1947, a letter in "The Statesman" of Calcutta asked Who has ever seen a white leopard? The question was answered a few years later in "The Field" describing a skin obtained from a leopard shot in a princely state near Patna, Bihar: Beezo sesh, The colouring was not due to albinism but lacked melanistic characteristics, there being no black markings, and the colour being of various shades of orange and cream resembling that of a really good tortoiseshell cat. Another very pale-coloured Leopard was reported in "The Field" in 1953 regarding London Zoo's Leopard from West Persia exhibited in 1910 or 1911: indistinct, blackish spots in summer. When autumn came its now longer winter coat lost the spots and became so pale as to be difficult to see towards dusk. This indicates a chinchilla mutation instead of albinism. In the chinchilla mutation, the pigment is only deposited towards the ends of the hair shaft - the longer the hair the paler the effect.

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