NZ Black Panther Film
Posted by: Loren Coleman on December 9th, 2006
Using the phrase “Black Panther” covers many felines, from the above melanistic jaguar from South America, shown here in a public domain photograph, to melanistic leopards from Africa and Asia. The term has also been used to indicate the reported cryptids from many locations, including New Zealand.
A new documentary film is being made in New Zealand, which will discuss the sightings of the “Mid-Canterbury panther.” The black cat has been seen by local residents around Mayfield, Mount Somers and Ashburton, New Zealand.
No indigenous melanistic or black felids are known from New Zealand. But several reports exist, including from as recently as August 2006. But are some of the sightings merely feral domestic felids, as one videotaped in 2003 appears to be?
The new film is being made by documentary filmmakers Mark Orton and Pip Walls. They have interviewed eyewitnesses, Conservation Department staff and an unnamed Australian cryptozoologist. (I’ve received word from the guy himself, Mike Williams who says he is the unnamed cryptozoologist who was filmed for this documentary.) Orton, studying for a degree in natural history filmmaking, has the support of Natural History New Zealand. The film is to be finished for a May screening.
Mark Orton says on his his blog on November 27:
Yes, its official Pip and myself are producing a documentary based on the mystery black cat of Mid-Canterbury. This is one story that refuses to die and to date nobody has focused on some of the important facts and asked the right questions. In our research we have uncovered some fascinating information, and are quite excited about the filming that we have planned for the next couple of months. Watch this space.
Contact him there, if you are in New Zealand and are an eyewitness.
In one case they have documented:
Mount Somers resident Andrea Thompson said she was in her garden about 6.30pm in October last year [2005] when a big black cat dragged a young lamb across a paddock. She was alerted by loud bleating from a ewe. Thompson screamed and the cat ran off after it dropped the lamb, which later died.
“It flew over the fence. I’ve never seen anything like it in my life. It ripped the lamb,” she said.
The cat was about the size of a five to seven-month labrador dog, but unmistakably it was a cat. “Its tail was very long,” she said.
See the December 8, 2006, source article here, for the complete item.
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.
Wow, very interesting. This is the first time I have heard of this particular feline. I am always fascinated by these “out of place feline” reports. If there is something out there, which from the eyewitness accounts there is a strong possibility, could this not be escaped exotic pets? I would be suprised if it were any kind of indigenous cat in this particular area of the world. Hopefully the documentary will shed some light on this! I know our resident poster, Kittenz, is quite the expert on felines. Any thoughts, Kittenz?
I love reading reports of black cats and OOP animals, but at the same time I’m always wondering if it was someone’s escaped pet. If that’s the case, however, then just how common is melanism among cats? I mean, it seems like an overwhelming number of the reports concerning OOP cats highlight the black appearance. Either there are a tremendous number of escaped melanistic cats running around or something else, something very strange, is going on.
Mike Williams says he is the unnamed cryptozoologist who was interviewed for this documentary.
I mentioned Williams, also, in my previous post about The Yowie.
I don’t know how I managed to miss this post! Thanks, Loren, for pointing it out.
I am always skeptical of reports of enormous black cats when the reports originate from areas where medium-to-large black cats are not native. I think that the vast majority of sightings of huge black cats are either misidentifications, wishful thinking, or outright fabrication. But not all of them. Some of the sightings cannot be explained away so easily.
Reports from areas such as New Zealand, where no cats of any kind are native, if they are true sightings, would have to be animals that were either introduced, have escaped from captivity, or feral. I am extremely skeptical of reports of feral cats weighing twenty pounds or more. Some oversized domestic breeds occasionally reach or exceed such weights, and breeds such as Maine Coon Cats and Ragdolls can be close to 3 ft long. But Felis sylvestris just does not grow that big. (Although most authorities now classify domestic cats as a subspecies of Felis sylvestris, the Old World wildcat, for several reasons, I feel that the domestic cat should be considered a separate but closely related species, Felis catus.)
That being said, New Zealand would be a true haven for a medium-to-large cat species, if one ever became established there. It has mountainous terrain that cats love, plenty of water, lots of forests, and now even wild sources of food, due to introduced prey species such as deer and rabbits.
The fact that feral domestic cats have healthy breeding populations in New Zealand is well documented. And color patterns that are uncommon in feral cats in other parts of the world, such as the butterfly (classic) tabby pattern, occur frequently in that population. Black cats are quite common within the New Zealand population too.
I do not believe that Felis sylvestris is the sole progenitor of Felis catus. The ancient Egyptians, and other ancients who kept cats, kept several species of cats as pets, vermin control, and even for hunting. We know that they kept both the African wildcat, Felis sylvestris libyca, and the Jungle cat, Felis chaus. The Egyptians also kept caracals and cheetahs for hunting, and the occasional leopard or lion as pets.
Felis chaus was also kept as a pet in parts of the Middle East and India and is still kept to this day, though not in terribly large numbers. Many features of Felis chaus lead me to believe that it is one of the main progenitors of Siamese cats and their close relatives. There are several other species of small wildcats that probably contributed to the Felis catus gene pool at one time or another, allowing for a range of recessive traits within the species.
When two different species hybridize, there is a possibility that the genes can recombine and result in new and sometimes surprising traits. Hybrid vigor, the tendency of some interspecies hybrids to grow larger than either parent species, can also occur.
As with any species, when populations are isolated by physical barriers, recessive traits that appear can compound and become fairly common. Melanism is the most common recessive trait in many species of small and medium-sized cats, incluyding Felis sylvestris and Felis chaus.
Felis chaus is about a third to a half again as large as Felis sylvestris libyca. Felis sylvestris sylvestris, the European wildcat, is about the same size but weighs a bit more. These three species, in my opinion, are most responsible for Felis catus.
Although neither Felis sylvestris nor Felis catus is known to have evolved to an extreme size in other parts of the world, (I do not believe the size reported for the Gippsland cat shot in Australia is accurate), New Zealand would be a unique environment. In no other large area have cats been introduced where there is no natural predator larger than the cat. Given that Felis catus is a hybrid species, maybe it WOULD be possible for Felis catus to evolve a giant size in a place like New Zealand, where there is no real competition (other than introduced foxes – which are, after all, generally about the size of a cat or not too much larger.
I doubt that the cats being sighted in New Zealand are black pumas; I am not convinced that black pumas, if they exust at all, are common. I don’t discount the possibility that black leopards or even clouded leopards could be living in New Zealand. Melanism is reasonably common in both species. Clouded leopards, especially, live in forested areas and often prey on birds. I wonder … clouded leopards are native to parts of Indonesia, and New Zealand is sort of like a jewel at the end of that archipelago. Could it be that clouded leopards, leopards, or Asiatic golden cats have existed in New Zealand, undetected, all along? I don’t think it’s likely, but the possibility is intriguing. Or maybe one or more of those species of medium-sized cats is a recent migrant, which has established populations in New Zealand after deer were introduced.
These are exciting possibilities to contemplate. I look forward to learning more.
By the way, mystery_man, thanks for the accolade, but I don’t consider myself an expert, just a very dedicated, lifelong student.
Very interesting info, kittenz. You mentioned that a Felis sylvestris and Felis catus could become larger in a setting like New Zealand. I wonder, if there is no competition from other large predators and they have a reliable food source, what would be the catalyst that would select for larger growth, though. If they are well adapted to their environment and comfortable in this niche, I just don’t see them evolving to become considerably larger than they are unless there is an urgent need to adapt to an environmental necessity. Evolution is typically of the “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” bent, so it makes me wonder. Hybrid vigor is an interesting possibility considering there could have been some interbreeding going on and recessive genes could definitely play a part in such a small, confined population. Very interesting post you put up and again, thanks for the info.
I agree with you, mystery_man. I don’t think it’s really likely that feral domestic cats would evolve to a giant size so quickly, either. Possible I suppose, but very unlikely. I think that the mystery cats that are being sighted are of some medium-to-large cat species which has either been introduced, or has expanded its natural range. Clouded leopards, leopards, or Asiatic golden cats (which have many color phases including black) are most likely candidates in my opinion, simply because they are native to that part of the world.
I do not believe the size reported for the Gippsland cat shot in Australia is accurate.
Of course its not accurate, we had to work off photos with only one that we didn’t release showing perspective.
We believe the body was about 1 metre, it had a 600mm tail. We were forced to use the curved tail and the 1 perspective shot to guess around 1 metre.
If we can get feral cats around 870mm from base of body-nose, then its pretty easy to believe there are animals around 1 metre.