People usually call Panther to any big black cat, I did so until I watched Apocalypto and saw they were calling the black cat Jaguar which confused me. (I have no biology knowledge)
It was kind of a shock to discover that Tigers and Lions, among other species, where Panthers too, and it surprises people when I tell them.
Does anybody know why and when this started to happen?
* I realize this might not be related to biology but actually to popular culture, but I couldn't find a stackexchange site about that.