Everyone knows house cats, jaguars and leopards can be voids, but did you know other cats have black color morphs too?
The Asian golden cat, the Serval, jaguarundi, Margay, kodkod, Geoffrey’s cat, oncilla, Pampas cat, and bobcat all have melanistic variants.
Unfortunately when it comes to house cats, research supports the longstanding claim that black cats are adopted at lower rates, and are euthanized in greater numbers, than other felines. Part of that can be chalked up to superstition. It’s also due in part to the fact that black cats are more difficult to photograph.
But as these photos prove, all you need is some decent ambient light, smart framing and maybe a bit of shadow/highlight correction to help bring out a black cat’s natural features.
Image credits: Top two rows via Pexels, with photographers listed in the captions. All other photos via Wikimedia Commons. Last image (melanistic oncilla) credit Ignacio Yufera
Pain In The Bud 
Who are these last 5 melanistic creatures? Which kinds of wild cats are they?
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Jaguarundi, serval, serval, leopard, jaguar.
I’ll have to double check the last row, sometimes it’s really difficult to tell the difference between jaguar and leopard if you can’t see the rosettes.
I also added photos of a kodkod and an oncilla.
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Approved by Ki’y (and “Nala” in the background) from OTRB.
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They were both very beautiful, Candi. Thanks for sharing!
I confirmed the second of the big cat photos is a jaguar.
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I love black cats. I have one now and 5 angels.
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Five?! Wow. Buddy’s my first cat and my first pet.
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Lovely pictures of gorgeous black kitties! We think they are just the most beautiful of cats. I’m not too good at photography, but catch ’em in a sunpuddle, or tweak ’em a little in photo editing, and they look fabulous!
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They’re like mini black jaguars, they’re awesome.
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What is the weird looking 2 photos of same cat with tall ears?Never seen anything like it.
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Those are extremely rare melanistic servals.
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That explains photo of Cosmo sent to me yesterday by foster with his face planted into the pillow! Black cats need a day of rest. Better the pillow than my chest! 🤣I will see what this week brings for me and see if he uses that bed pillow.
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Beautiful cats all. Additionally, according to researchers at the National Institute of Health, the gene that causes their fur to be black also protects them against certain diseases. So your black cat is scientifically less likely to fall ill with certain diseases.
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And they’re also really good at hiding, so there’s that too. What can’t they do?
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Bella is of course making the most of this day and is having extra treats- always had black cats for exactly the reasons you highlight. I’ve always had beautiful times with them. Difficult to photograph is true – a fellow cat fanatic refers to them as “voids” ! – one of our house guests is brilliant at getting gorgeous pictures of her – I guess its in the skill of the person behind the camera- “Go Black Cats” – Yayyy!!!
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If you don’t have Photoshop, Pixlr is a good option and it’s web-based, but most importantly it allows a high level of control over shadows, highlights, contrast, color balance and individual colors.
A lot of times our cameras do capture the detail, meaning the data is there, but because of lighting, setting and other factors, it just needs a little nudge to bring out what our eyes see.
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My dear and wonderful ❤️ kitty is a black fur cat. He’s playful and loving and a fine, fine cat.
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Happy Black Cat Day you both, I hope he got some extra treats and love.
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Our resident house panther, Onyx, does not like to have her picture taken.
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But she’s very cute! You’ve got at least a few good shots of her, from what I’ve seen on your blog.
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You should see the misses. 🙂
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