# Debunk the email! **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 29, 2000, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/debunk-the-email/24063 "2000-06-29T19:08:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![lunapark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/278dde/32.png) [@lunapark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lunapark)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2000, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/debunk-the-email/24063/1 "2000-06-29T19:08:02Z")
Is this true? i just got it from [http://www.memail.com](http://www.memail.com) newsletter. FACT OF THE WEEK: There is no single cat called the panther. The name is commonly applied to the leopard, but it is also used to refer to the puma and the jaguar. A black panther is really a black leopard. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2000, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/debunk-the-email/24063/2 "2000-06-29T19:17:30Z")
According to [http://www.brittanica.com](http://www.brittanica.com): > [@](#): > > panther > > either of two mammals of the cat family (Felidae), the leopard or the puma [\ ---
**Author:** ![Mauve\_Dog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ad7895/32.png) [@Mauve\_Dog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mauve_Dog)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2000, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/debunk-the-email/24063/3 "2000-06-29T19:40:18Z")
Not only that, but ‘cougar’, ‘puma’ and ‘mountain lion’ all refer to the same animal as well. ---
**Author:** ![Wood\_Thrush](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b38774/32.png) [@Wood\_Thrush](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wood_Thrush)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2000, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/debunk-the-email/24063/4 "2000-06-29T22:24:42Z")
This is one of the reasons Linnaeus’s binomial Latin system of nomenclature is used. ---
**Author:** ![handy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5a626/32.png) [@handy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handy)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2000, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/debunk-the-email/24063/5 "2000-06-29T22:33:34Z")
It would have only taken a few seconds to look that up in a dictionary: pan•ther "pan(t)-ther\ noun pl panthers also panther [ME pantere, fr. OF, fr. L panthera, fr. Gk panther] (13c) 1 : leopard: as a : a leopard of a hypothetical exceptionally large fierce variety b : a leopard of the black color phase 2 : cougar 3 : jaguar ©1996 Zane Publishing, Inc. and Merriam-Webster, Incorporated. All rights reserved. Surely we have better things to do than answer all of these email factoids ourselves? Just for the future, there is no language called ‘chinese’ Chinese is a group of languages. ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ecccb3/32.png) [@Lord\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Jim)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2000, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/debunk-the-email/24063/6 "2000-06-29T22:52:58Z")
Wood Thrush said > [@](#): > > \*\* > This is one of the reasons Linnaeus’s binomial Latin system of nomenclature is used. > \*\* Huh? Jim