Slideshow

Black Cats

These jaguar photos, snagged recently via camera trap by WCS Ecuador, are a rare sight. Jaguars are an endangered species there, with the few that remain spread across both sides of the Andes, in the Amazon and Chocó rainforests.

WCS and the Ministry of the Environment of Ecuador recently published the National Jaguar Conservation Action Plan to help these cats survive.

The photos here show the melanistic jaguar, also known as the black panther. They're all black rather than the typical orange with black spots. Believe it or not, black panthers actually have spots, too, they're just hard to see amidst their dark fur.