'Black Panther'

I know I said I'd write on the same day as I wrote about the tiger but my computer decided to stop working that same day and I didn't use it for a week. (The rest is history)

So it was Black Cat day back in August, a bit before I wrote the Tiger post. If you're a fan of the Spider-Man comics(I'm a big one), you have probably heard of Felicia Hardy. She is a thief who wore a black and white suit and was called the 'Black Cat'. There is also 'Black Panther', who you might know from the Fantastic Four and some Avengers comics. And don't forget DC's Catwoman with her black suit with cat ears and a tail.
Black cats were also very popular in Egypt(they loved cats in general). Their goddess Bast was often depicted either as a black cat or a woman with the head of a black cat.
Then there's also the most famous story of all: 'If a black cat crosses your path, bad luck is coming.' Funny actually because black cats were seen as bad luck charms but they were also good luck charms. Along with ravens, they were associated with witches.

...whoaaaa, okay, that's a bit of writing there. Let's get on to the cats okay?

So the main purpose of this post is to show what a black panther really is. Many people will tell you that it's a separate type of cat that is either pure black or black with spots or anything along those lines. (Of course some, like me probably, would tell you it's just another comic character.)

When really, there's no such animal.

A Black Panther as an animal by itself doesn't exist, and if it does it hasn't been discovered.

However, those animals are all called 'black panthers':

(Photo source: Animals of Montana)

(Photo source: WWF)

(Photo source: Tigerace)

Mainly because they're, well, black.

Those are actually a black jaguar and a black leopard.

A 'Black Panther' is basically any wild cat that has dark fur which looks black. These are usually melanistic - which is the opposite of albinism - and basically there is a lot of development of the black pigment in the animal's skin, so it looks black. This doesn't only happen in cats, it can happen in other animals too.

(Photo source: Felids @ Wordpress)

This wasn't a very long post, but there wasn't much to say. I tried to explain this in the simplest way possible so I'll leave it at that. Bye guys! (: