People really don’t know anything about big/“big” cats (1 Viewer)

[Ahsoka]

I saw a comment thread talking about mountain lions and it was all over the place. First someone said that mountain lions are the smallest big cat. For one, they aren’t actually considered big cats. That said, they are generally heavier than leopards, who are considered big cats. So even if they were big cats, they wouldn’t be the smallest. Additionally, people said they weren’t the smallest because cheetahs are smaller. Yes, cheetahs are smaller. But cheetahs are also not big cats. Also someone there said mountain lions only go up to knee height on a person. My 10 lb domestic cat goes up to my knee. Yes, cougars are longer. But they can weigh up to 160 lbs. you’d have to be really long and really fat to reach 160 lbs at knee height. Also this wasn’t said but I’ll bring it up anyways. Many people think a panther is a species of cat, like a lion or mountain lion is. It’s not. Big cats are of the panthera genus. There are also Florida panthers, which are a subspecies of the mountain lion. And lastly, there are black panthers, which are leopards and jaguars with completely black fur. But there isn’t a separate cat that is a panther. Also I haven’t seen people claim this much but snow leopards are not leopards. Neither are clouded leopards. Their name is similar but they are completely different species.

Just in case anyone wanted a lecture on big and “big” cats.

 

[Tokki]

wooahh

 

[StrayMixx]

so... what ARE panthers, then???

 

[Ahsoka]

so... what ARE panthers, then???

Nothing really. You can call leopards and jaguars panthers, especially when they’re completely black, but it could also apply to snow leopards, tigers, and lions if you really want to. It probably just comes from the fact that the big cats are part of the panthera genus. My guess is it became a thing when people first saw all black jaguars and leopards and didn’t know what they were seeing but I don’t know that for sure because I didn’t look into that part

 

[StrayMixx]

Nothing really. You can call leopards and jaguars panthers, especially when they’re completely black, but it could also apply to snow leopards, tigers, and lions if you really want to. It probably just comes from the fact that the big cats are part of the panthera genus. My guess is it became a thing when people first saw all black jaguars and leopards and didn’t know what they were seeing but I don’t know that for sure because I didn’t look into that part

so the domestic mini panther is a lie???

 

[Ahsoka]

so the domestic mini panther is a lie???

Honestly Ive never heard of that before So probably. But I’ll look it up to see if I can find something

 

[Ahsoka]

so the domestic mini panther is a lie???

Are you referring to the Bombay cat? They’re just a breed of black cat. People just called them mini panthers because they’re all black.