Difference Between Panther and Jaguars
Panther vs Jaguars
Both of these are two different large cats. Although both eat the same food -meat, they are different in many ways.
What is Jaguars?
Largest of South America’s big cats.
Today jaguars are found only in South and Central America especially in Amazon Basin.
These cats are most beautiful and powerful beasts and they are significant symbols in the ancient Native American cultures. The name jaguar is derived from the Native American word “yaguar” and it means “he who kills with one leap.” (National Geography)
Hunting methods of Jaguars
Other cats tries to avoid hunting in water, but Jaguars are good swimmers. They get their prey in the form of fish, caimans, and turtles. They can also hunt larger animals like capybaras, deer and tapirs. Jaguars can also climb trees , ambush and kill prey with one powerful bite.
Behaviour of Jaguars
Most jaguars are orange with distinctive black spots. Some jaguars can be very dark and therefore they may appear to be spotless. They live alone and mark their territories by clawing trees or with their wastes.
Females have one to four cubs and these cubs are are blind and very helpless when they are born. Both mother and father stay with the cubs and defends them from other animals. Cubs usually stays with the mother for two years or more and learn to hunt with their family.
What is Panther?
It is a type of a leopard, especially a black one. The Panther is also known as the Black Panther and it is a large member of the Big Cat family. They are native to America, Asia and Africa. The Panther is not a different species itself , but is the name is used to refer to any type of black coloured feline of the Big Cat family especially Leopards or Jaguars. They are one of the strongest climbers of all felines.
Characteristics of Panthers
Most Panthers are dark brown to black in colour. Unlike Leopards and Jaguars, the Panthers do not have spots on their long body or tail. They have shiny coat of dark fur. Their heads are relatively small with strong jaws and emerald green eyes.
Habitat of Panthers
Panthers are very adaptable animal and able to survive in different habitats. They are commonly found in tropical and deciduous forests but they also inhabit in marsh and grasslands and deserts and mountains.
Panther’s Behaviour
They are very intelligent and agile animal and rarely seen by people in the wild. They are very quiet and cautious animals. They are great at camouflaging with their dark brown fur .
They are solitary animal and mostly nocturnal. Panthers spends their daytime resting high in the trees. They are powerful and fearless animal and very aggressive. They are very territorial. Their cubs are born blind as well.
Main differences between Jaguars and Panthers:
Both of them belong to a big cat family. Panthers are powerful, intelligent, and exotic animals and they are type of a leopard, especially a black one. Both jaguars and Panthers are solitary animals. Jaguars are good swimmers and prey fish, caimans, and turtles and other larger animals like deer.
There is a difference between the panther and the jaguar when it comes to the specific physical attributes as well. The sizes of these creatures have slight differences. Jaguars would usually weigh around 124-211 lbs. or 56-96 kilos. The panthers, on the other hand, would weigh around 100-250 pounds. They would also have a difference in the length. The range of the length of the jaguars would be around 5-6 feet tall whereas the range of the panthers’ length could go from 7-8 feet.
SUMMARY:
1.There is a difference in the classification of panthers and jaguars.
2.The panthers may be black in color while the jaguars may be spotted.
3.There is a difference in the weight and length of panthers and jaguars.
- Difference Between Pastrami and Corned Beef - May 13, 2011
- Difference Between Diamond and Graphite - May 2, 2011
- Difference Between Ambien and Ambien CR - May 1, 2011
Search DifferenceBetween.net :
Email This Post
: If you like this article or our site. Please spread the word. Share it with your friends/family.
16 Comments
Leave a Response
References :
[0]Qilinmon at the English language Wikipedia via Wikimedia Commons
[1]U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Digital Library System, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org
Would love to finish the article but there is an advertisement in the middle of the text.
Both of these are large cats. People think that there is actually no difference between the two. t In addition to that, most people would think that there is no difference between the panther and the jaguar because they are both felines that have the same hunting method. Considering hunting methods, both the panther and the jaguar hunt for the same type of food — meat.
The term “panther” simply is the generic term for large cats, and that would include the jaguar. To simply differentiate between the two, jaguars are actually panthers. Along with the jaguars would be lions, leopards, tigers, and other large cats. It is safe to say that all jaguars are panthers. However, if people would say that all panthers are jaguars, then there would be a mistake since, as mentioned earlier, panthers would include tigers, lions, and leopards. Moreover, there is a difference in their classification, more specifically their genus. Jaguars are from the genus panther while the panthers are from the genus Panthera pardus.
People might have also taught that black panthers are another species of large cats because it is different from the typical appearance of large cats, more particularly the jaguar. But actually these black panthers are still either leopards or jaguars. The only thing that actually differs is the coloration of the panthers. These other colors of panther species are called melanistic panthers. The discoloration of panthers from the typical spotted or striped fur is caused by melanism, the increased amount of dark pigmentation in the skin or hair of animals. At times, melanism may also occur not only to the skin or hair but also to eyes and to some birds’ feathers.
There is a difference between the panther and the jaguar when it comes to the specific physical attributes as well. The sizes of these creatures have slight differences. Jaguars would usually weigh around 124-211 lbs. or 56-96 kilos. The panthers, on the other hand, would weigh around 100-250 pounds. They would also have a difference in the length. The range of the length of the jaguars would be around 5-6 feet tall whereas the range of the panthers’ length could go from 7-8 feet.
Read more: Difference Between Panther and Jaguars | Difference Between | Panther vs Jaguars http://www.differencebetween.net/science/nature/difference-between-panther-and-jaguars/#ixzz46LHq9qNp
It is contradictory to say that a panther is a jaguar and then say that there are differences between the two. You should give the difference between a Jaguar and another “panther.”
All squares are rectangles, but not all rectangles are squares. That help?
”People might have also taught that black panthers are another species of large cats because it is different from the typical appearance of large cats, more particularly the jaguar. But actually these black panthers are still either leopards or jaguars.
Summary: 1.There is a difference in the classification of panthers and jaguars.”
I am slightly confused with how this is worded.
Happy to learn this difference …
Thank you !!!
There are a handful of points in both the article and the comments that aren’t strictly true. But what has motivated me to submit this is the claim in the article itself that states “Panthers do not have spots on their long body and tail”. This is unfortunately misinformation.
A ‘panther’ is not a separate species of cat, and is a general name that we denote to a big cat with a black coat, arising from a recessive gene which causes melanism.
Leopards, jaguars and cougars can all be found to have this recessive gene, and so some offspring are referred to as ‘panthers’. If the panther is a cougar, then the coat will be pure black with no spots – in the same pattern as a regular cougar. However, if the panther is either a leopard or a jaguar, then the cat will have spots (rosettes) on its body in the same pattern as the relevant cat. They are not immediately visible, but to claim they are not present would be incorrect.
You know panthers aren’t real, right? Or, they aren’t black I should say. Panther is another name for the mountain lion (Look at the Flordia Panther). The “Panther” shown here is a black leopard. Well, not even.
Let’s see here:
“They are native to America, Asia and Africa.” – You just stated that they are leopards, but leopards live in Africa (I think some live in Asia). Same with this paragraph – “Panthers are very adaptable animal and able to survive in different habitats. They are commonly found in tropical and deciduous forests but they also inhabit in marsh and grasslands and deserts and mountains.”
“the Panthers do not have spots on their long body or tail. They have shiny coat of dark fur. Their heads are relatively small with strong jaws and emerald green eyes.” – This paragraph is describing an imaginary animal, the “black panther” some people think actually exists.
“The panthers may be black in color while the jaguars may be spotted.” Panthers (mountain lions) can be brown. They have never been recorded to be black. Jaguars can be black or spotted. Leopards can also be black or spotted.
Summary: This article is misinformation.
The only thing you were correct about is at the end. That this article is miss info.
The panther is from the genus Panthers, which is all big cats.
Mountain lions are not panthers, that is just a nick name given to them from people in the south. Ex. Florida panther. It’s just a mountain lion or a cougar or a puma.
Black panthers are really melanated leopards and Jaguars. Those two have the melanin gene while lions and tigers have the albino gene. That’s why you don’t see black lions and tigers or white leopards and Jaguars.
Happy to learn the difference and understanding that all large cats come from the Panthera family and as such are classified as Panthers.
I love black Panthers myself.
However where does this leave pumas? Are they part of the Panthers family?
I know that the puma is smaller but can someone elaborate further in terms of how the puma fits or NOT into the panther family?
So how is a Florida Panthers the same as a mountain lion as previously mentioned. Where does it fall in comparison to the other big cats?
The Florida Panther, as you said, is a “Mountain Lion”. It’s just a subspecies. It is not actually a panther, just as a mountain lion is not actually a lion. It fits into the Puma Genus, and not the Panthera (i.e. panthers).
Lions, Leopards, Jaguars, and Tigers are all Panthers (Genus Panthera), whereas Pumas, Mountain Lions, Florida Panthers, Cougers are all Pumas (Genus Puma). Not only are they all Pumas, they all actually are a version of the same species of animal, Puma concolor.
It’s really no different than a Killer Whale. The common name is misleading, as it is not actually a whale, but a member of the dolphin family.
Most important thing I came here to see is their speed comparison which is not included in the article.
Okay, there is a metric ton of misinformation that the article itself even contradicts.
1) First there is the claim that jaguars are not panthers. This is both true and false at the same time depending on how you look at it. The jaguar is a member of the Panthera genus of big cat, which includes such 0ther big cats as leopards, tigers, and lions. However if you look at the black panther side of things not every jaguar is going to be a panther and not all panthers are jaguars either. but scientifically speaking jaguars are a panther (Panthera onca). This article already questions its legitimacy by not giving any of these facts ahead of time, all they say is what fits their bill at that time in the article, and as you continue reading it only gets worse as they contradict themselves quickly.
“Panther vs Jaguars
Both of these are two different large cats. Although both eat the same food -meat, they are different in many ways.” – very first header and sentence of the article
“The Panther is not a different species itself , but is the name is used to refer to any type of black colored feline of the Big Cat family especially Leopards or Jaguars.” – the second to last line in the section “What is a Panther?” p.s. I fixed the spelling error they left in.
https://www.britannica.com/animal/black-panther-mammal
2) They claim that black panthers do not have spots. This statement is technically correct as the spots on the leopard and jaguars’ bodies that most people don’t see on panthers is called a rosette, not a spot. However these are still present in the black panthers of these species though I would not recommend going up to one and looking for them as it is a good way to end up in a morgue. They also stated that panthers have “emerald green eyes” even though the image right above this has a panther with brown eyes. Even so I will link a picture that will disprove both of these.
https://akm-img-a-in.tosshub.com/indiatoday/images/story/202007/Ed52mlVUcAErwM7.jpeg?rn9CAT2F.LjCKQAf7u1wMj5y4RSq_o.Q&size=1200:675
3) The horrible grammar in this article made it barley readable in any war, there was no sentence or paragraph that sounded right any time I read this article. I cannot comprehend how this article even still exists with it being as badly worded as it is.’
All in all this is a trash article and I have no idea on why I wrote this other than I got bored and wanted to call this article out on this blatant misinformation.
Very interesting to learn about this. Thanks for the post.