Neron is a magnificent black jaguar with beautifully rare markings. His otherworldly coat, a velvet display of rosettes, has won many hearts at The Big Cat Sanctuary.
All black jaguars have rosettes—rose-like markings found on the fur used to camouflage—but only a small number have markings as bold as Neron’s. Like printed silk, his coat glistens.
“Neron’s rosettes are particularly remarkable as they are much lighter on his tail end, gradually darkening towards his head,” Harry Cooke, a spokesperson for The Big Cat Sanctuary, told The Epoch Times.
(Courtesy of Cam Whitnall via The Big Cat Sanctuary)
(Courtesy of Cam Whitnall via The Big Cat Sanctuary)
Four-year-old Neron was born in Artis Zoo in Amsterdam, joining the UK sanctuary in 2018 as part of the European Endangered Species Breeding Program for jaguars. It was recommended he breed with the female jaguar named Keira, who just turned 5….