Melanistic animals

Silver fox sitting pretty, a color morph of the red fox #Vulpes_vulpes #mytumblr

Melanistic animals are gorgeous. They were born to be different and become conspicuous whenever they are. However, this physical feature sometimes puts them into disadvantageous situations. They might be easily spotted by predators or excluded in their colony. Recently, an extremely rare black Bengal tiger was spotted in the jungles...

Black lion

Close up of a black tigers face Black Tigers are, like White Tigers, not a unique subspecies. Rather, they are Bengal Tigers with what is known as pseudo-melanism. Pure melanism refers to a large amount of black pigmentation of the hair / fur / feathers, eyes, and so on. This gives the animal a completely black appearance and is the opposite of albinism. However, this is not the case in either Black or Blue Tigers, which is why the term “pseudo” is used to describe their colouring.

Melanistic barn owl by fremlin.deviantart.com on @DeviantArt

Discover all of the different types of animals that are melanistic, learn how and why they develop their black color, and much more - with pictures.

melanistic lion or tiger

Not a captive animal but a wild one. There were quite a few black squirrels in the grounds of the Bronx Zoo.

The Silver Fox is a melanistic form of red fox. Silver foxes display a great deal of pelt variation: some are completely black, save for the white tail tip, while others are bluish-grey, and others may have a cinereous colour on the sides.Wild silver foxes do not reproduce exclusively with members of the same coat morph, and can be littermates with the common red variety.

No, they're not pigments of your imagination, these dark creatures (the opposites of albinos) display melanism meaning they're much blacker than normal. While Black Panthers (actually leopards) are the most well-known melanistic animals, a host of others have also been known to change their spots... into one BIG spot.

This is a "melanistic" Black deer. the oposite of the albino.