Believe It Or Not: These Natural Photos Are Completely Real

Black Spotted Jaguar

This spotted black jaguar is not an animal you’re likely to see, even if you live in the South American and Central America region. At first, the natives considered them separate animals from their lightly-colored spotted siblings. But now, taxonomists can confirm that they are the same species as the jaguar.

These unusual animals have what’s called a dominant melanistic allele. This gives them their dark color. It means that a pair of black jaguars can have both black and spotted children, but two spotted jaguars will birth spotted jaguars only.