There are 3 types of conditions that can change a mountain lion’s fur color. Those are melanism, albinism, and leucism. These conditions can color fur white or black in mountain lions.
Leucistic Mountain Lion
Leucism is a condition that makes the pigment of a mountain lion’s fur and skin white. They can also have white splotches rather than be completely white. Unlike albino mountain lions, their eyes are black and not red. The first leucistic mountain lion has recently been discovered in southeastern Brazil’s Serra dos Órgãos National Park on July 5, 2013. Trail cameras played a major role in capturing these awesome pictures!
Albino Mountain Lions
Albino mountain lions similar to luecistic mountain lions are entirely white. However the main differance between the two is that albino mountain lions have red eyes. Sadly because of their color and the health problems that come with both conditions, these animals do not live long outside of captivity and makes seeing a fully matured mountain lion with either condition increadibly rare.
Melanistic or Black Mountain Lions
Melanism is a condition that causes the skin pigment to be black. This condition has not been documented yet in mountain lions. This condition is the rarest out of these three conditions. As far as we know currently there are no negative health problems that occur due to melanism in animals that do have this condition. If you ever see or hear of a black mountain lion in your area, we highly suggest buying a trail camera and trying to catch a picture or video of them. Click below for trail cameras that we have used and reviewed!
Do not look up white or black cougars. This will rarely bring up pictures of actual mountain lions and can be a very unpleasant experience if you are expecting to find white or black mountain lions…