Science !?!

This last post has got me thinking what exactly a "Bengali Panther" might actually be. Maybe a crossbred Bengal tiger and a panther? Maybe a panther who's secured a passport from Bangladesh? In my dream is was pretty much a jet black tiger, with a wider face than I'd normally think a panther would have. Well, I did some looking around and there's apparently no such thing as a panther to begin with.

Some people may want to call cougars panthers. But they're wrong, cougars are cougars, mountain lions or, perhaps most correctly, pumas. Panthers are large black cats that want to eat your soul. (See visual aid.)

Below we have the various genera of the Felidae (kitty-cat) family including both sub-families, Pantherinae (roaring; mostly) and Felinae (adorable; mostly), listed as best I can in order of size. There's nothing on the list straight-up called a "panther". (besides one of the other names for a puma, which isn't even in the Pantherinae sub-family, so that can't be right. Of course I've also got a problem with the various types of leopards, lynx, and bunches of tiny cats that somehow weaseled their own genera onto the chart. Somebody needs to do some damn housekeeping.)

Animalia, Chordata, Mammlaia, Carnivora:

• Felidae
  
• Pantherinae
  
• Panthera- Tiger, Lion, Jaguar, Leopard
  
• Unica- Snow Leopard
  
• Neofelis- Clouded Leopard, Bornean Clouded Leopard
  
• Felinae
• Puma- Cougar(mountain lion, puma, panther), Jaguarundi
• Acinonyx- Cheetah
  
• Lynx- Eurasian Lynx, Bobcat, Canadian Lynx, Iberian Lynx
• Caracal- Caracal (persian lynx, african lynx)
• Leptailurus- Serval
• Profelis- African Golden Cat
• Pardofelis- Bay Cat (bornean cat, bornean red cat), Asian Golden Cat
• Catopuma- Marbled Cat
  
• Leopardus- Colocolo, Pantanal Cat, Pampas Cat, Geoffroy's Cat, Kodkod, Andean Mountain Cat, Ocelot, Oncilla, Margay
• Felis- Chinese Mountain cat, Jungle Cat, Pallas' Cat, Sand Cat, Black-footed Cat, wildcat, Domestic Cat,
  
• Prionailurus- Leopard Cat, Iriomote Cat, Flat-headed Cat, Rusty-spotted Cat, Fishing Cat
  

So what the hell is a panther, since a cougar is an unacceptable answer? Well, its complicated. Apparently a panther is a color variant of a jaguar, leopard, or cougar; but not a distinct species. Melanism is responsible in these black panthers for genetically darkening the typical patterns, which at closer inspection are still visible. Melanism is actually much more common in jaguars and leopards, and actually there has never been a documented case of a black cougar. (maybe that's why I think cougars can't be panthers.) The tendency appears to be environmentally selected, becoming more common in denser, darker parts of jungle.

• Wikipedia- Black Panther

But then there are also white panthers which can again be jaguars, leopards, or cougars. Again, white leopards are the more common type, although albino variations are more rare than melanistc ones. So a panther can be black or white, jaguar, leopard or cougar. Basically it narrows nothing down at all except that its a non-standard coloring. Crap.

• Wikipedia- White Panther

But, I digress. We've all, unfortunately, heard of white tigers. But somewhat less known, and controversially identified, are black tigers. These are usually thought not to be melanistic individuals, but either very large panthers or a cross breed tiger/panther. The sightings are diverse and unsubstantiated. (although more so than those of black pumas) So I'm gonna go with the hybrid tiger black leopard variety. Of course the instructions do not vary irregardless; try to wake up immediately.

• Wikipedia- Black Tiger

Anyway, maybe that was all common knowledge, but I'm pretty sure I thought that panthers were an actual classification, and I definitely didn't know about white panthers. Maybe I was snoozing during the big cat lesson in 2nd grade, but somehow I doubt it. Read about the other ways grade school failed me in the archives.