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Black panthers are not an actual species - they are jaguars and leopards with melanism, the opposite of albinism (lemmy.world)

submitted 11 months ago by tictac2@lemmy.world to c/mildlyinteresting@lemmy.world

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[-] esadatari@lemmy.world 34 points 11 months ago

also panther only refers to the fact that it’s a big cat from the pantera family if i am not mistaken: mountain lion, lion, jaguar, leopard, tiger

so the people saying “what species is the pink panther” actually have a legitimate point in saying he could be a pink lion. people saying “it’s just a panther” don’t understand what they’re actually saying. it’s like, okay what kind of panther?

[-] Klear@lemmy.world 43 points 11 months ago

Here's the thing. You said a "lion is a panther"

Is it in the same genus? Yes. No one's arguing that.

As someone who is a scientist who studies lions, I am telling you, specifically, in science, no one calls lions panthers. If you want to be "specific" like you said, then you shouldn't either. They're not the same thing.

If you're saying "panther" you're referring to the taxonomic grouping of Panthera, which includes things from tigers to leopards to jaguars.

So your reasoning for calling a lion a panther is because random people "call the roaring ones panthers?" Let's get snow leopards in there, then, too.

Also, calling someone a human or an ape? It's not one or the other, that's not how taxonomy works. They're both. A panther is a panther and a member of the panthera genus. But that's not what you said. You said a lion is a panther, which is not true unless you're okay with calling all members of the panthera genus panthers, which means you'd call tigers and jaguars, and other cats panthers, too. Which you said you don't.

It's okay to just admit you're wrong, you know?