Introduction to Black Panthers in Texas
One evening while sitting in her countryside driveway, Deborah Burns said she heard a “loud growl,” looked up and saw a large black cat with a long tail. Burns asked Curious Texas what was the animal in her backyard that evening. She guessed it was a panther. So this raises the question: Are there black panthers roaming around Texas? Curious Texas went on a hunt for the answer. Thankfully, for everyone’s sake, experts say the chances of any of us running into the apex predator out in the wild are relatively low. But let’s explore how we got here.
Panthers 101
A “panther” is a broad term used for many large cats, such as mountain lions, leopards and jaguars. Sam Kieschnick, urban wildlife biologist at Texas Parks and Wildlife, said he as well as other experts, associate the word “panther” with a mountain lion.
A mountain lion sleeps at the Fort Worth Zoo on Thursday, Oct. 9, 2025, in Fort Worth. The lion came to the zoo in 2014 after being abandoned as a cub.
Christine Vo / Staff Photographer
Mountain lions, said Melissa Blair, mammal keeper at the Fort Worth Zoo, are also called pumas and cougars in addition to panthers. But mountain lions are not black, she said, they have a solid, light brown coat.
“If I had a nickel for every time I’ve been told about a black panther in Dallas-Fort Worth, I would have a pocket full of change,” Kieschnick said. “Simply put, there is no evidence of melanism [increased amount of black or nearly black pigmentation] in mountain lions.”
The black panther that nonexperts are typically referring to is either a jaguar or a leopard, which look very similar.
The difference between a leopard and a jaguar, no matter the color, is their size, where they’re found and a slight contrast in their rosette patterns. Cheetahs look similar, but their coats are just covered in black spots.
According to Big Cat Rescue, jaguars are much stockier than leopards, with shorter legs and a shorter tail, giving them “more of a pit bull type appearance.” As for their pattern, jaguars have spots in the center of their rosettes, which is not the case for leopards.
A jaguar named Xochi walks back and forth at the Fort Worth Zoo on Thursday, Oct. 9, 2025, in Fort Worth.
Christine Vo / Staff Photographer
Contrary to common belief, black leopards and jaguars still have the traditional rosette patterns. It’s just not always visible, especially depending on the lighting.
Leopards are found in Africa and Asia, while jaguars are found in the Americas.
Black Panthers in Texas?
Jaguars were once found here in Texas. According to Texas Tech’s Natural Science Research Laboratory, records and sightings of jaguars in Texas date from the late 1800s and early 1900s.
The cat was hunted to extinction in Texas in the 1940s. The last confirmed sighting of a jaguar in the state was in 1948, when one was shot about three miles southeast of Kingsville, according to the Natural Science Research Laboratory.
