Black cats do not communicate visually at night

What is it about?

Scientists have long believed that crepuscular and nocturnal animals forgo visual signals and rely solely on sound and chemical communication, but many cases seem to indicate otherwise. White marks of feathers and fur on a dark background have the potential to be used to communicate with conspecifics in dim light at night in closed habitats, without alerting prey and predators. But what happens when the coat of individuals is entirely black, as in melanistic felids?

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Photo by Rishabh Dharmani on Unsplash

Photo by Rishabh Dharmani on Unsplash

Why is it important?

The absence of white marks on the backs of ears of melanistic individual tends to be a limiting condition for intraspecific visual communication at night, resulting in an evolutionary dilemma for Felid species: to be almost invisible at night, but not to communicate visually. This influence important population processes and entailing selective advantages that may promote the ecological success of polymorphic species, but, so far, the absence of black feline species. This study showed for the first time the importance of visual communication under conditions of low lighting for the adaptive dynamics of melanism in felids, suggesting that white markings behind the ears have contributed to the evolutionary success of felids as nocturnal predators in forested environments.

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