Is It a Panther? A Handy Guide

The age-old question finally gets an answer. Sort of.

From Black Panthers to Florida Panthers to non-panthers…honestly, it’s a mess.

For unknown (Marvel) reasons, the internet seems to be abuzz with interest in the panther, which is pretty cool. I’m certainly a fan anytime pop-culture sparks a fascination with nature. Only one problem though… PANTHER is a really weird bit of nomenclature, and the lines (stripes?) get blurry when sifting through which big cats fall into this bucket.

But have no fear, Naturalish is here! If you ever find yourself needing some panther guidance, look no further.

Okay, so actually, why is this worth talking about?

Searches for “What Is a Panther?” are HOT HOT HOT. Buy now!

I’m not making this up: spikes in panther inquiries are a real thing. Sure, a large portion of these searches are just about the superhero — but if there’s a fraction of kids out there genuinely curious about the makings of a panther, it’s worth lending a helping hand.

And “panther” as a term is NOT clean. In taxonomy, it’s something called a paraphyletic group: a term used to name animals that doesn’t really adhere to normal nomenclature. I like to think of dinosaurs as a perfect example, which includes giant reptiles but deliberately excludes the species that they later evolved into: birds.

Panthers are kind of like that.

So what is a panther, really?

So big. So beautiful. Maybe panther.

First off, you’ve got a genuine taxonomic family of cats: Panthera.

I’m calling this a technicality; if you’re ever in a debate about big cats and accidentally call a lion a panther, you can likely BS your way into the clear. Lions, tigers, jaguars, leopards, and snow leopards all fall in this camp.

More accurately, though, the term panther describes any large cat with a solid-colored coat. This is where we encounter the most common usage of the term: the black panther. In a wide majority of cases this will reference just two species, leopards and jaguars, that display a “melanistic” color variety and appear solid black…although the spots are still there, just harder to see.

So fly.

Beyond these Panthera, other large predatory cats — ocelots, lynx, pumas, and domestic cats included — fall into a different lineage. There’s a tiny grey area around the clouded leopard, which isn’t in the Panthera genus but falls into a subfamily Pantherinae. You can draw your own conclusions here.

“But wait! Aren’t pumas panthers?!” Eh, sort of. And for the record, all these terms are the same thing:

Puma = Cougar = Mountain Lion = Catamount = Panther

What are you, giant cat?

So, yes, even though the puma doesn’t fall under the Panthera lineage, it can be commonly referred to as a panther. As we stated above, that “panther” term can refer to any cat with a solid-colored coat — this explains why in North America, the term got co-opted for the puma back in the colonial era. Generally speaking, I consider this a misnomer. The most common terminology I can find online for the species is cougar, so I’m going to stick with that for now.

Unless you’re in Florida!

That’s right! There’s a subspecies of puma whose genuine, common name is Florida Panther. The species is not part of the Panthera family but gosh darn, the name stuck. This case is unlike the cougar—the most accurate and everyday name for the animal is indeed panther. Can’t fight it.

It’s a roundabout, messed-up world. Good thing there’s a flowchart to help.

So if you’re out at the movies and stumble into a theater showing one of the largest superhero blockbusters of all time, why not think about nature? Any excuse is a good one, as far as I’m concerned. You never know when you’ll get caught in a classic nomenclature debate and need to bust out the big guns.