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Panthers are fierce yet elegant hunters with striking features, namely their distinct black fur and piercing yellow eyes. These big cats are mainly found in the rainforests of Africa and Asia, stalking their prey with incredible precision and strength. We’ll talk about what panthers eat in a moment, but there are a few things you should know about them first in order to clear up the confusion as to what kind of animal it is.
Contrary to popular belief, panthers are not quite a separate species, but rather a group of large cats with black fur that belong to the genus Panthera. The word “panther” actually refers to any leopard or jaguar with melanism or a lot of black pigment in the coat. Melanism is caused by a recessive gene in leopards and a dominant gene in jaguars.
(There is also the Florida Panther, which is a subspecies of the mountain lion in North America. As you can see, the term “panther” has several meanings!)
There are two main types of panthers, the melanistic jaguar (Panthera onca) and the melanistic leopard (Panthera pardus). Their diets are very similar, so let’s take a look at what these fearsome yet adorable predators are eating day in and day out in the wild.
What food do panthers eat?
Panthers are nocturnal carnivores, meaning they are mostly active at night and feed only on the meat and flesh of other animals. But what exactly do panthers eat? The answer is that they are mostly small to medium sized herbivores living in wet forests and jungles, such as:
Incredibly, this list doesn’t even come close to covering all the foods a panther will eat. Since they are apex predators and not very picky about their food, panthers will feed on almost any animal that moves. In fact, research has shown that Panthera onca humans typically eat up to 85 different species of animals of varying sizes, from small birds and reptiles to large mammals.
How do panthers hunt prey?
Panthers are skilled hunters who generally stalk their prey slowly and quietly, waiting for the right moment to strike. They have very strong jaws and sharp teeth that can crush the skulls of even large mammals and reptiles with ease!
While many predatory animals will chase their prey long distances, panthers prefer to ambush their prey, chasing it for hours or even days. Instead of chasing its prey until it becomes too tired to keep running, the panther will silently follow its prey, staying out of sight and making itself felt just seconds before the attack.
The bottom line is that panthers rely on stealth and speed to catch food. Their dark fur also helps them blend in with the darkness of the night when they choose to hunt because of their nocturnal nature.
Do panthers have predators?
Since panthers are apex predators, they really don’t have any predators to watch out for (other than possibly humans). However, they do have little competition for food from other large carnivores, most notably other large cats such as lions and tigers.
In some cases, these big cats even hunt and eat each other. However, this is very rare, and they usually only resort to this behavior when they are desperate, starving and unable to find other smaller animals to feed on. However, panthers and other big cats wage a fierce battle for resources and often fight fiercely with each other for their prey!
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