Comments on: Black Lions Prowling

By: Bake Neko

Bake Neko — Sat, 10 May 2008 05:28:55 +0000

The abundance of melanistic big cat sightings continue. Intriguing.

By: HOOSIERHUNTER

HOOSIERHUNTER — Fri, 09 May 2008 22:45:36 +0000

Interesting–my first thought, too, was that they were seeing the lions at night and assumed they were black. However, I am curious as to why they would assume that. Is there some history or folklore among the people concerning black lions? Certainly they wouldn’t jump to the conclusion that every creature they see in the dark is black. It is also very odd that the lions, any lions, would roam about the streets and not attack livestock. My guess is that is why the lions would be ranging off the preserve–for food, especially easy food like livestock. Very curious. Do we know if there have been daylight sightings?

By: thatericn

thatericn — Fri, 09 May 2008 20:33:14 +0000

That picture of the Black Lion Pub makes me thirsty.

By: cryptidsrus

cryptidsrus — Fri, 09 May 2008 19:58:18 +0000

Awesome lik and story.

Let’s hope more sightings occur. And that nobody gets hurt in the process.

By: kittenz

kittenz — Fri, 09 May 2008 13:27:20 +0000

I’ve seen photos of lions having a hyperabundance of melanin, which give their coats a sort of sooty appearance … not really melanism like that found in leopards and jaguars, but a coloration known as “abundism”, in which the normal black markings are more pronounced and/or extend farther than usual.

I’ve read of cases where an otherwise normally colored lion had abnormal black patches of color, but I have not yet located any photos of such lions.

Some subspecies of lions, which have extremely black manes and belly fur, may have an incidence of melanism, but I have not found any documentation to support that.

I wonder if these melanistic animals could be some sort of hybrids? I have seen photos of a melanistic jaglion at Bear Creek Sanctuary and it is beautiful, but although the lion features are obvious, it could not be mistaken for a full-blooded lion. Melanism in jaguars is a dominant trait, so cubs from a black jaguar/lion cross could be melanistic, even though only one parent has the gene for melanism.

Lions have been known to hybridize with leopards, too, at least in captivity, but the melanism in leopards is caused by a recessive gene and so the cubs from a black leopard/lion cross would not exhibit melanism, although they could carry the recessive trait.

When lions are backlit by strong sunlight, they appear darker than they really are … maybe that is what people are seeing. Or maybe there really are some melanistic lions; the fact that none have ever been documented does not mean that they can’t exist. What an awesome-looking animal a melanistic lion would be!

This is a link to some recent photos of the jaglions at Bear Creek Sanctuary:
http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.bearcreeksanctuary.com/images/other%2520animals/jazzy_12.JPG&imgrefurl=http://www.bearcreeksanctuary.com/adoptions_recent.htm&h=279&w=200&sz=65&hl=en&start=4&tbnid=AWK42EcVpBBbvM:&tbnh=114&tbnw=82&prev=/images%3Fq%3Djaglion%26gbv%3D2%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DG

By: kolobe

kolobe — Fri, 09 May 2008 12:16:53 +0000

An interesting article Google turned up on black lions, http://www.messybeast.com/genetics/lions-black.htm

By: noobfun

noobfun — Fri, 09 May 2008 11:45:16 +0000

very interesting.

but i wouldn’t worry about pubs being called the black lion in england, there’s a tradition of naming pubs black/red/white lion.

within 5-700 meters of where i live there were 2 red lions and a black lion pub.