Where Are The Black Florida Panther Photos?
Posted by: Loren Coleman on May 17th, 2010
Black “panther” photos are often more like blobfelid images than anything definitive. They do appear, most often, to look like domestic cats, not black large pumas.
“Panthers,” especially the elusive melanistic kind in America, are hard to pin down. We all know that or they won’t be cryptids.
Public domain National Park Service. Photo by Rodney Cammauf: Everglades Wildlife Images.
But Florida panthers, the specific Florida subspecies of mountain lions/pumas/cougars, are a known animal. Their Latin name is Puma concolor coryi.
One of their color phases is said to be “gray.” But where are the photographs of gray Florida panthers?
For that matter, how many Florida panthers are reported to be black?
Where are those photos? Do you have any in your photo files?
Is this the only picture of a black Florida panther, Puma concolor coryi, which anyone will bring out of the wilds of Florida?
Thanks to a question from Dave Wooten that resulted in this posting.
About Loren Coleman
Loren Coleman is one of the world’s leading cryptozoologists, some say “the” leading living cryptozoologist. Certainly, he is acknowledged as the current living American researcher and writer who has most popularized cryptozoology in the late 20th and early 21st centuries.
Starting his fieldwork and investigations in 1960, after traveling and trekking extensively in pursuit of cryptozoological mysteries, Coleman began writing to share his experiences in 1969. An honorary member of Ivan T. Sanderson’s Society for the Investigation of the Unexplained in the 1970s, Coleman has been bestowed with similar honorary memberships of the North Idaho College Cryptozoology Club in 1983, and in subsequent years, that of the British Columbia Scientific Cryptozoology Club, CryptoSafari International, and other international organizations. He was also a Life Member and Benefactor of the International Society of Cryptozoology (now-defunct).
Loren Coleman’s daily blog, as a member of the Cryptomundo Team, served as an ongoing avenue of communication for the ever-growing body of cryptozoo news from 2005 through 2013. He returned as an infrequent contributor beginning Halloween week of 2015.
Coleman is the founder in 2003, and current director of the International Cryptozoology Museum in Portland, Maine.
Question: “Is this the only picture of a black Florida panther, Puma concolor coryi, which anyone will bring out of the wilds of Florida?”
Answer: My heart says yes and my brain says no. Typing in “black panther florida” on a search engine yields images of a black Forida panther but based on the first page image results of a well known search engine, the animal is not in the wild but next to a swimming pool having a drink.
As an aside, if the Florida black panther can remain away from the lens of humanity it makes the entire case for other ‘unknown’ animals very sound and plausible.
That cat in the picture online (by the swimming pool) is just a house cat, the caption confirms that.
I have heard about black FL panthers, but from everything I have actually seen they tend to turn out to usually be black bobcats or large house cats. People seem to mistake then rather frequently for each other. Most people in FL are not familiar with bobcats, so any one seen is often reported to authorities as a panther, even less people are aware of black bobcats. Panthers are rare in FL as it is, a black one would be incredible. It seems more likely that a black western cougar would turn up before a black Fl panther.
Steve
Misidentification is certainly a tremendous issue for investigators. Fundamentally this would come down to the “nature versus nurture” debate as a human observing the creature would need previous education on the Florida black panther to differentiate it from a cougar, as even though we might be programmed to recognize different shapes, I think it’s safe to say humans are not born with the ability to instantly recognize a black Forida panther when they see one. Hence with an increase of funding towards education, specifically biology, even anthropology, that increases the chances that if someone does spot the rare Florida black panther and captures it on their camera, observers at a later stage can say, okay this person knows the difference between a cougar and a panther I think it would be worth the time to investigate this case more thoroughly.
The state of Florida is certainly proud of it black panther “population” as expressed by the yellow caution signs erected in areas of the “highest knows density” of the magnificent and elusive species. Any citizen purchasing an annual Florida state park admission pass will be given the option of a front car plate depicting the Florida black panther…I am sure this rendition of the panther in silhouette is the result of an official state photograph, the negative archived and hidden away due to its biological and historical importance…and only allowed to be viewed by the enlightened ones…the chosen few. 🙂
The state of Florida is certainly proud of it black panther “population” as expressed by the yellow caution signs erected in areas of the “highest known density” of the magnificent and elusive species. Any citizen purchasing an annual Florida state park admission pass will be given the option of a front car plate depicting the Florida black panther…I am sure this rendition of the panther in silhouette is the result of an official state photograph, the negative archived and hidden away due to its biological and historical importance…and only allowed to be viewed by the enlightened ones…the chosen few. 🙂
I believe that the majority of the sightings are misidentification. There is a population of “black” bobcats in Florida down Fort Lauderdale way and one was caught in Gainesville.
We live in central Florida and my son saw one. He kept insisting it was a panther until I showed him a picture of a bobcat. He recognized the distinctive tail. I was confused by his insistence it was black until I read about melanistic bobcats.
I’ve lived in Florida all my life and had never heard of a black bobcat until my son’s sighting. So imagine how many other people who see “black panthers” make the same mistake.
With the state of Floridas ‘s “enhancement” of the lore of the possible presence black panther’s i.e road signage and state park symbolism etc., a greater awareness is created for state citizenry and out of state tourists to keep their eyes wide open all the time. Most humans now move freely about their planet armed to the teeth with high tech digital cameras and image producing cell phones, tucked at the ready in their shirt pockets! Maybe late this afternoon or sometime tomorrow evening, we shall be enlightened.
Years ago, when I was doing press coverage of the shuttle program, during the launch of STS-3, I went into the press site via the space center at Cape Canaveral. I ended up getting lost (1AM or so) way back into KSC, going behind the entire launch platform. I finally made it to a check-point and managed to get directions. (I never accessed the launch site that way again).
I knew I was lost when a panther ran across the road in front of me! People do not realize that KSC is part of Merritt Island, which is an amazing wildlife refuge. It is the only time I ever saw a panther in Florida in the wild. (I come from Florida). I cannot remember the color, but I think it was buff.
About 15 years ago driving down Hwy 28 past Cashiers, NC toward Walhalla, SC with my father. We were just minutes behind a small tornado, and my driving resembled something out of “Twister” as I avoided tree branches and falling trees. I remember watching as a mountain lion trotted down the highway beside my car. We followed it for several minutes, which was odd, but I guess with a tornado doing weird things, it wasn’t all that strange.
I seem to remember the mountain lion I saw in NC and the panther at KSC were nearly the same color.
sjreidhead, I am working at the Cape right now. I have seen huge boars out by pad 39 and also Bobcats. In 2000 I was working down here when I saw something most bizarre. I was working swing shift and on my way into work, I was east of the NASA causeway or Industry rd. A cat of some sort ran out across the road in front of me, it crossed the road at a very fast pace and disappeared into the undergrowth. Upon seeing it I just slowed down without thinking and came to a complete stop. This cat looked like a cross between a cheetah and a Bocat or Panther, it was dark brown and had a tail. I just sat there stunned. I did see it one other time crossing the road at the VIB if you know where that use to be but it was too far ahead of me. I have seen lots of wildlife in my day and to this day I have no idea what I saw. I just hope I get the chance to see it again. I know some people will mock me for this, but I know what I saw and I wasn’t drinking. I also know of someone else who saw it as well on a different day.
I live in a rural area of Texas and twice I have seen a Very Large Cat that I automatically called a BLACK PANTHER. The first time was in 1985 and the sighting was so brief that I really questioned what I saw until I found some extremely large cat tracks at the exact place I saw the animal.
The second time was in the Spring of 2009 while fishing at a friends pond. I was seated in a chair when this Cat walked out of the dense wooded area on the other side of the pond. I was no more than 100 feet from it as it walked along the bank quartering away from me. The side that I originally saw seemed almost brownish and ruffled as if it had been laying in a sandy area before coming out of the woods.
At first I thought it must be a really big Bob Cat because it was obviously too large to be a domestic/feral cat but it had a long tail. I would estimate the weight to be well over 50 lbs because it was larger than my dog who weighs 45lbs. As for the general size, I would say it was about the size of an adult Laborador Retriever and maybe 60-80lbs.
The sighting happened about 3:00pm in the afternoon and there were no obstructions between myself and this Cat, only the water of the pond separated us and it did not see me at all. Until I called out “Here kitty, kitty, kitty” as it was about to disappear over a hump. It actually turned around and started to stare at me like it was curious or confused but I didn’t move a muscle or make another sound. I did however notice that the other side, which I had not seen yet, was Jet Black and somewhat shiny. This cat got bored after a few seconds and continued on it way at a very leisurely pace.
I was simply stunned at what I saw. The sighting wasn’t at all brief as it lasted well over a minute. The cat wasn’t in a hurry and obviously wasn’t afraid of me. I am a very experienced hunter and grew up hunting and fishing this part of Texas for almost 40 years now. I have seen numerous Bob Cats in the wild as well as a few up close on the tailgate of my truck.
I’ve seen several shows on TV that had “experts” commenting about “Black Panthers” being nothing but a myth or mistaken identity. All I know is that I have seen two very large black cats that were way too large to be domestic/feral cats. I’m not sure of the exact breed but if I had to use a general term, I would call them BLACK PANTHERS!