I google the scientific name for black panthers. I get panthera onca. I google panthera onca, and I get jaguar. Can someone explain what is going on? Are they the same? What is the real scientific names for them? Because panthers are black and jaguars are yellow with black spots.
1 Answer
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Black panther refers to melanistic examples of either leopards (Panthera pardus):
or jaguars (Panthera onca):
It is not typically used to refer to (the rare/historic/unconfirmed) examples of melanism or pseudo-melanism in other species of Panthera (e.g. black tigers).
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$\begingroup$ So they are basically black leopards or black jaguars? $\endgroup$– user57155Commented May 3, 2020 at 23:22
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$\begingroup$ It can also refer to black puma as well. It doesn't help that puma have more than a dozen common names. including panther in the southern US. $\endgroup$– JohnCommented May 4, 2020 at 16:14
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$\begingroup$ @John "Despite anecdotes to the contrary, all-black coloring (melanism) has never been documented in cougars." en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puma_(species)#Characteristics $\endgroup$ Commented May 4, 2020 at 16:47
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$\begingroup$ Really, interesting, now I want to look and see if any Pumapard ever exhibit it. But it still might be worth mentioning since we don't know what context the OP is asking the question for, they could be referring to reported sightings $\endgroup$– JohnCommented May 4, 2020 at 17:03