alt Hacker NewsThere is no actual "panther" animal though, the word is used for several different animals (leopards, jaguars and pumas at least, I think).
They can all have melanistic coats and are then often called black panthers. But that's not a species.
There is no actual "panther" animal though, the word is used for several different animals (leopards, jaguars and pumas at least, I think).
They can all have melanistic coats and are then often called black panthers. But that's not a species.
I believe the poster you're replying to understands that. They're noting that the complaint about panther was curiously because they had already listed tiger, which is practically never called a panther, and not because they already listed leopard, which is a cat that is often called a panther. The statement about meaning "any big cat" I would guess to be a confusion based on the name Pantherinae for the subfamily of Felidae of which all these big cats are part. Though the puma, which as you note is also called a panther, is in the different subfamily, Felinae.
I personally just tend to avoid the word panther, because it very often causes confusion as to which cat you're talking about.