Photo of the Day #340: Spotted by a leopard

Brian, ever heard of a leucanistic big cat, aside from the famous white lions and tigers? I wonder if they are a bit more common among snow leopards and northern lynx (cf arctic hares, foxes and polar bears).

I'd guess the melanistic cats are limited to the thickest rainforests around the equator, predating on mid to large forest animals in the early morning, evening and night time hours. I don't think I've seen any reconstructions of saber-cats with spotted, speckled or melanistic coats, that would be a sight to wake up to while out camping in the boonies!

Sweet, that's a great picture. Perfect set up.

I would certainly be running like mad if there wasn't a pane of glass in between me and those eyes!

DDeden: I believe that most if not all of Mauricio Anton's reconstructions of sabertooths have spotted coats.

As for leucistic individuals of other cat species, I think you might find the following links quite fascinating:
http://www.messybeast.com/genetics/hybrid-cats.htm
http://www.messybeast.com/albinism/alb-felid.htm

Melanistic leopards are virtually unknown in Africa, even in the Congo, whereas they appear to make up a more significant proportion of the population in Peninsular Malaysia:
http://www.nwf.org/nationalwildlife/article.cfm?issueID=112&articleID=1…