Big Cats

[country_boy]

Which big cats are black, apart from black panthers?

[jonnythebosh]

A leopard thats been coloured in.

[puddycat]

Leopards can be black but this is down to an abundance of the pigment in their skin (opposite to albino where there is insufficient pigment). Almost 50% of the leopard population in Malaysia is virtually black.

[hugnie21]

I thought a panther is a black leopard?

[hugnie21]

Just found this on another site...

The term �Black Panther� is quite often used in connection with large black cats - however there is no one distinct species of wild cat called a Black Panther. Over the years it has become used as a common name which can be applied to any large black coated cat. When you see a picture of a Black Panther it is most likely that you are looking at either a Leopard or possibly a Jaguar.

[country_boy]

I was wondering if Jaguars were black, what about Pumas?

[country_boy]

BTW this is to settle a bet of what the beast of Bodmin could be, some footage shows a big black cat but not as big as an adult jaguar or panther/leopard

[jonnythebosh]

Pumas are the same as cougars/mountainlions, or am i wrong?

[hugnie21]

Yes I think you're right Jonny, and panther is the generic name for all of them! It's rumoured that there's more than one in Bodmin anyway so I guess they could be anything?

[commoner]

Panthera is a genus of the family Felidae and is where the name Panther obviously comes from.........There are only four cats in this genus.......tiger, lion, leopard and jaguar so any other cats cannot correctly be called Panther.......a black leopard can therefore be correctly called a black panther as could a black jaguar, tiger or lion (if there are any) but although common usage seems to include any black variety of wild cat, it is not "correct" to give the name Panther to species other than the four mentioned.

BTW.These four are the only four which can roar due to some modification to bones in the throat..........

[janetsflower]

I had a black puma once but i traded it in for a blue celica