The Tiger, Lion, Leopard, and the Jaguar are called big cats they fall under the genus, PANTHERA. So in essence they are all Panthers. You probably meant the Black Panther, which is just a Leopard with a rescessive gene. Big cats are the only cats able to roar. The group is sometimes widened to include the Snow Leopard, Clouded Leopard, and Cougar although these really come into thier own sub-spieces.
The Cheetah is in it's own sub-spiecies ACINONYX, because it has characteristics all of its own. It can also purr.
the cat sub spiecies are as followed:
Family Felidae
Genus PANTHERA (roaring or great cats)
Tiger, PANTHERA TIGRIS
Lion, PANTHERA LEO
Jaguar, PANTHERA ONCA
Leopard, PANTHERA PARDUS
Genus Acionynx
Cheetah, ACIONYNX JUBATUS
Genus Neofelis
Clouded Leopard NEOFELIS NEBOLUSA
Genus Uncia
Snow Leopard UNCIA UNCIA
Genus Acionynx
Cheetah ACIONYNX JUBATUS
Genus Puma
Cougar PUMA CONCOLOR
The Clouded and Snow Leopards are given the common name of a Leopard because of thier similarities in appearance. And thier classification status is often changed from the PANTHERA genus to thier own; the debate is unresolved.
The Cougar is actually bigger than a Leopard. And the Cheetah is the tallest.
And to name differences within a sub-spiecies they are usually the obvious cosmetic ones.
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