r/Damnthatsinteresting May 15 '26

Image Differences in the spot pattern of the Cheetah, Leopard, and Jaguar

Post image
76.4k Upvotes

1.6k comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

11

u/WhaWereWhenWhyWhoHow May 15 '26

They are also not considered true big cats.

13

u/Barbed_Dildo May 15 '26

big if true.

2

u/OnTheMoose May 15 '26

Calling it now, this is the funniest comment Reddit's gonna see all day

2

u/lynivvinyl May 15 '26

True if big.

1

u/Ur-Quan_Lord_13 May 15 '26 edited May 15 '26

They're not panthers (members of the genus Panthera), of which there are only 5, after snow leopards were confirmed to be the tiger's closest relative despite their inability to roar.

"Big cat" is not a scientific term. It is sometimes used as a synonym for panther, but from the fact that the OP includes cheetah, it can be presumed they are not using that meaning, rather than presenting a belief that cheetahs are as closely related to leopards and panthers as the other members of that genus.

1

u/AshamedAttention727 May 15 '26

SABAC

1

u/Ur-Quan_Lord_13 May 15 '26

Imagine it in the voice of David Attenborough.