Melanistic animals are animals with an increased amount of the dark pigment melanin in their skin, hair and feathers, etc., giving them a dark appearance. Melanism is a genetic mutation that occurs in many different types of animals, including mammals, reptiles and insects. Among the best-known melanistic animals are the black leopards and jaguars known as panthers.

Other melanistic animals include squirrels, deer, pheasants, the silver fox (a melanistic red fox), several cat species, even penguins (a melanistic king penguin was filmed during the making of the BBC series “Dynasties”) and flamingos (a black flamingo was spotted in Cyprus in 2015).

On this page we explore melanism and other genetic conditions that affect the appearance of animals, and provide pictures and facts on a variety of melanistic animals.

Melanism

Melanism is a disorder that causes an abnormal increase in the …

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