The world is full of wonderful black animals of all shapes and sizes, some we’re sure you’re aware of, as well as rarer animals you might not ever heard of!
If you’re looking to learn more about black animals or discover some new animals to feed your interest, look no further.
In this article, we will cover 5 fascinating black animals. So, whatever reason you’re researching black animals, you’ve learned more about what animals are out there!
Let’s get into it.
Black Panther
While a popular film at the box office, the black panther is also a colloquial term used to describe the melanistic color variant of the leopard (Panthera pardus) and the jaguar (Panthera onca).
The name black panther is given to black leopards in Asia and Africa, as well as black jaguars in South and Central America.
While the melanin content can vary between cubs from the same litter, cubs that are born with totally black coats are incredibly rare to come across.
Interestingly, some melanistic leopards and jaguars might seem totally black due to their spots being masked by diffuse light.
That being said, when they’re standing in full sunlight, the faint spotted pattern of the coat might become visible to the eye. So, if you happened to catch a glimpse of one in the sun, you might be able to see their simply stunning markings.
Black panthers hunt animals such as wild hogs, deer, as well as racoons in the wild, and other domesticated animals when this prey is available to them.
Black panthers are super rare, with an estimation of only 11% of all jaguars and leopards having this coloration.
Before a sighting of a black leopard took place in 2019 located in Kenya, there hadn’t been a sighting confirmed by photographic evidence in a remarkable 110 years, which is testament to how rare they really are!
Black Wolf
The black wolf is a melanistic color variant of the gray wolf (Canis rufus). Black wolves are mostly found in woodlands, and are found across the world, but particularly in Yellowstone National Park in North America as well as Canada.
Unlike their gray and white counterparts, black wolves are rarely found in tundra populations, and their dark coloring is thought to help them blend into their surroundings in woodlands.
Black wolves are rare, with a research paper discovering that black-colored wolves have 25% fewer surviving pups than their gray-colored counterparts.
As fewer pups from black wolves survive, it makes sense that there’d be fewer black wolves to reproduce and pass along the gene.
Despite this color variation, black wolves still share the same physical characteristics as white or gray wolves, and some of them even have specks of gray in their fur.
Black wolves are carnivores, and therefore primarily hunt larger animals such as bison, moose, deer, and elk. As they are social animals, they work together to hunt in packs, meaning they can hunt animals much bigger than themselves.
Black Seal
Black seals, also known as melanistic seals, are renowned for their velvety black coats.
Often referred to as the dogs of the sea, seals are found in a group of marine mammals known as pinnipeds, meaning fin or flipper-footed.
They are found along the majority of coasts and in very cold waters, with many of them living in the Arctic and Antarctic waters.
Although black seals are semi-aquatic animals, thanks to their fins they are able to walk on land for long periods of time. This is why you might sometimes see seals on the beach! They are also very inquisitive animals.
Male seals can weigh up to 8,500 lbs. While female seals are much smaller, they can still weigh a whopping 2,000 lb. Both males and females feed on fish and other aquatic animals.
Black seals are incredibly rare, with research suggesting that only approximately 1 in 400 gray seals are melanistic. So, if you spot one of these seals in the wild, it’s a pretty special occurrence!
Black Flying Fox
The black flying fox is a bat in the family Pteropodidae that are found in woodland as well as tropical and subtropical forests in various countries across the world.
The Black flying fox is renowned for its long wingspan of over a meter, and is endemic to Australia, Papua New Guinea, as well as Indonesia.
They are almost totally black in color, with the exception of their rusty-red fur around their neck as well as white hairs on their abdomen.
Black flying foxes are known to eat blossoms, feeding off the nectar found in the flowers of certain blossoms as well as fruit that is native to their location.
These animals are vulnerable in the wild due to loss of feeding areas from clearing of native vegetation.
Black Deer
Black deers, also known as melanistic deers, are deers with a genetic anomaly that make their coat darker.
Deer are found all over the world, and are native to all continents except for Australia as well as Antarctica.
Their dark fur makes melanistic deer easy to spot in a group of other deer, however, this isn’t to say that they are a separate species of deer.
Bearing this in mind, a melanistic white tailed deer is still just that! So, it is possible but rare to find black deer anywhere that deer are found.
That being said, black deer are very rare, with an estimation of 1 in every 500,000 deer being melanistic.
Deer tend to eat plant matter, such as grass, vegetation, as well as nuts, and acorns which they forage for.
In Summary
There you have 5 fascinating black animals. While these animals are interesting, we’ve only just scratched the surface on the black animals that are on earth.
We hope that you’ve found this article interesting, and now have a better idea of some of the fascinating black animals we have on our wonderful planet.
Hopefully you have enjoyed learning about 5 fascinating black animals, and now have the knowledge to relay to others about these interesting creatures. Enjoy!
Hi, I’m Olivia Kepner and I am a zookeeper here in San Diego. Since I was a young girl I have always been fascinated by animals and species across the globe.
I used to beg my parents to take me to our local zoo every single weekend. Well, I say local – it was more like a two hour drive away. But they took me as much as they could, allowing me to fall in love with the animals again and again.
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