tsuag10 said:
Panther = Black
Mountain Lion/Cougar/Puma = Not Black
Correct??
In North America, you're only going to have 2 big cats. The mountain Lion/puma/cougar (Latin name I believe stands for "cat of one color") which is almost exclusively one tan/brown color. I don't have a link to the study but remember that the gene that produces a melanistic mountain Lion, was essentially non-existent and the odds of it happening were somewhere in the 1:5-10MM.
The other big cat is the Jaguar. While they used to roam around Texas, you won't be seeing any of them unless you get in wayyy south Arizona or in Mexico. They're normally spotted but I believe they can and do have black phases.
The Black Panther is not on this continent but is somehow subject to mostly east Texas folklore as real thing in the wild in Texas. I don't know how it originated, probably a damn house cat as mentioned above, but it is constantly passed around without a single shred of evidence, ever…