Black Panther Research Paper

The black panther is one of the most ferocious and intelligent creatures inhabiting the Earth. They are classified as members of the kingdom Animalia, phylum Chordata, class Mammalia, order Carnivora, family Felidae, genus Panthera, and various species. Their scientific names include Panthera pardus and Panthera onca. The black panther has been so widely popularized that its name is shared by a National Football League team, a Marvel superhero, and countless other entities. Despite its widespread use, there is often a misconception surrounding the animal known as the black panther. The panther is technically not its own species; the umbrella term refers to the melanistic version of any of the world’s big feline species. Panthers are extremely …show more content…
This gene regulates the distribution of melanin, a dark-colored pigment, within the hair shafts of felines. Melanism, the opposite of albinism, is a condition characterized by the induced, excessive development of melanin within the outer coverings of an organism, resulting in a darkened appearance and black or brown colored extremities. The effected organism still possesses the typical markings of its species, but they are often masked by the dark pigment, in an effect known as ghost striping. For each species, an imperative combination of alleles is essential to stimulate a surplus of melanin production. In leopards, melanism is conveyed by a recessive allele, and is distributed through five subspecies; the Javan leopard, African leopard, Indian leopard, Indochinese leopard, and Sri Lankan leopard. In jaguars, melanism is conferred through a dominant allele. Consequently, black panthers in South America may produce pure black cubs or spotted cubs. Spotted cubs can only be produced if one of the parents is heterozygous or homozygous recessive. Homozygous dominant individuals are darker in color due to an increase in the density of the black background color, while heterozygous individuals tend to be more of a light black …show more content…
Other factors that potentially influence melanin production include the animal’s life stage and the angle at which incident light is received. For many years, the melanistic allele has been thought to confer a selective advantage, given that is more common in organisms living in dense regions of tropical forests, where light levels are lower. Furthermore, recent studies have focused on the possibility of a linkage between melanism and beneficial mutations in the immune