What is a Black Panther?

 

The Black Panther movie is set to break all records at its current rate of ticket sales. This isn’t even including the number of pre-sales for digital screenings which is also predicted to be record-breaking. The movie is inspiring generations of African descendants living away from the mainland and even Continental Africans themselves.

 

 

So, what is a black panther?

Etymologically, panther and leopard are the same creature. However, black panthers are now considered any big cat with black fur. You are more likely to see a black panther in South America, rather than in Africa.

In South America, black panthers are jaguars and the frequency of melanism appears to be increasing which suggests that melanism is a dominant trait in the species. In leopards and other big cats, the trait is usually recessive. Quite a bit of movie imagery prominently displays a melanated mountain lion/ cougar which, so far, doesn’t exist in nature. Example below:

You can learn more about Jaguars via our Jaguar Page. 🙂

 

Oh, and looking for Wakonda?

According to google maps, it is in South Dakota.

Okay, you caught it. It’s not spelled correctly. Wakanda is supposed to be located, according to the Marvel comics, somewhere surrounded by the nations of Narobia (fictitious), Uganda, Kenya, Somalia, and Ethiopia, but the most important part is that, it’s hidden. So, even if it existed, if you aren’t in the in-group, you will never find it anyway. 🙂

If you haven’t seen the previews of the movie and can’t quite understand the hype, enjoy the trailer below: