What's In A Name: Leopard == Panther?

Posted:
in macOS edited January 2014
Is it just me, or aren't they the same animal? AFAIK, a panther is just a black leopard, no?



I mean, just looking at the pictures on Wikipedia, it would seem that Apple'd have to use the same spots for the fur background for OS X 10.5 as it did in 10.3.



Someone clear this up, please.

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 20
    rageousrageous Posts: 2,170member
    from the very same source you name: wikipedia...



    Quote:



    In fact, a "panther" can be any of several species of large felid which happen to have genes for more black pigment than orange-tan pigment, thus producing a pure black coat as opposed to the usual spotted one. "Panthers", in other words, are simply dark-furred Leopards (or a dark form of several other big cats





  • Reply 2 of 20
    m01etym01ety Posts: 278member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by rageous

    from the very same source you name: wikipedia...



    Hence, they could have chosen something more unique. Like lynx.



    I also wonder if the whole Europe/US name difference things come into play. In Hungary (and Switzerland as well, IIRC), we called black leopards panthers. So they're the same animal. But they're not. Gah.
  • Reply 3 of 20
    spyderspyder Posts: 170member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by m01ety

    Hence, they could have chosen something more unique. Like lynx.



    I also wonder if the whole Europe/US name difference things come into play. In Hungary (and Switzerland as well, IIRC), we called black leopards panthers. So they're the same animal. But they're not. Gah.




    I'm from the US, and from where I'm from people call Black Leopards "Panthers" as well. Usually the word Black is attached to it though. Black Panther. If it's a leopard that's not black then it's just a leopard, or a spotted leopard.



    We have lynx's in my hometown. Crazy looking cats they are.
  • Reply 4 of 20
    radiospaceradiospace Posts: 180member
    They seem to be running out of cats. Let's see what's left:



    Lion -- sounds weird for an OS, somehow

    Ocelot -- sounds cool, but its a little cat, maybe the OS for a tablet or set-top media box?

    Cougar -- too Ford Motor Co., and same animal as a Puma

    Lynx/Bobcat -- see Ocelot, above

    Serval -- this cat looks like a llaama with spots. I don't see it, personally.



    Looks to me like Lion is due next, then they might have to expand beyond the feline kingdom. Let's see... Mac OSX Hippopotamus? Nah. Mac OSX Walrus or Elephant Seal? Doubt it. Perhaps, since it brought us the Apple of knowledge, they should begin naming the OS after snakes:



    Mac OSX Python

    Mac OSX Anaconda

    Mac OSX Rattlesnake

    Mac OSX Cobra

    Mac OSX Mamba



    The potential for cool boxes would be vast...
  • Reply 5 of 20
    silversilver Posts: 34member
    Mac OSX Cheetah still sounds cool ...
  • Reply 6 of 20
    andersanders Posts: 6,523member
    Newsflash: Apple will go into the cloning business to produce enough varieties of cat animals to name new releases of their OS for all eternity.



    First name: The "Wozcat"
  • Reply 7 of 20
    radiospaceradiospace Posts: 180member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Anders

    First name: The "Wozcat"



    LOL
  • Reply 8 of 20
    feraliferali Posts: 175member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Silver

    Mac OSX Cheetah still sounds cool ...



    cheetah has already been used.



    cougar, lynx, and lion are still out there.



    they may choose not to do them. all the L's could cause some confusion or something.. lynx, leopard, lion
  • Reply 9 of 20
    keshkesh Posts: 621member
    Meh. Wrong post, never mind.
  • Reply 10 of 20
    mynameheremynamehere Posts: 560member
    OSX "Lion" could be kinda cool for the last of the big cats series...besides, we'll have to move onto OS 11 at some point too..."Lion" as the king of the jungle or whatever etc. etc. etc.
  • Reply 11 of 20
    wingnutwingnut Posts: 197member
    Here you go:

    http://www.nationmaster.com/encyclopedia/Leopard



    Quote:

    Originally, it was thought that a Leopard was a hybrid between a Lion and a Panther, and the Leopard's common name derives from this belief; leo is the Latin for lion, and pard is an old term meaning panther. In fact, a "panther" can be any of several species of large felid which happen to have genes for more black pigment than orange-tan pigment, thus producing a pure black coat as opposed to the usual spotted one. "Panthers", in other words, are simply dark-furred Leopards (or a dark form of several other big cats: see black panther).



  • Reply 12 of 20
    powerdocpowerdoc Posts: 8,123member
    Leopard are the name of africans pantheras.



    Jaguar are bigger than pantheras.
  • Reply 13 of 20
    People, people!



    These are just codenames / nicknames for OS X releases. Beyond that it makes absolutely no sense whatsoever to compare animals to operating systems.



    Please stop looking for a logical connection, that isn't there.
  • Reply 14 of 20
    Quote:

    Originally posted by PrettyBoyClone

    People, people!



    These are just codenames / nicknames for OS X releases. Beyond that it makes absolutely no sense whatsoever to compare animals to operating systems.



    Please stop looking for a logical connection, that isn't there.




    That's crazy talk. Of course there's a connection. If you count the number of spots the average leopard has, divide by the amount of Macworlds in a year and then multiply by the % of market share of OS X you will be able to determine how many new features Leopard will have.
  • Reply 15 of 20
    Quote:

    Originally posted by MPMoriarty

    That's crazy talk. Of course there's a connection. If you count the number of spots the average leopard has, divide by the amount of Macworlds in a year and then multiply by the % of market share of OS X you will be able to determine how many new features Leopard will have.



    lol, well this could hurt

    here is the aprox. math : 10000 dots/6 macworlds*0.03 percent market share=

    50 new features



    The dots are obviously just guessed and I only know about the MacExpos in Netherlands, Germany, England and Paris. As well as MacWorld in SanFrancisco and New York I believe.



    On the other side 50 new features would be a lot compared to at the moment, since the only real new features in Tiger are Sportlight, Dashboard and Automater.

    All the other new features are connnected to those in some way.
  • Reply 16 of 20
    Quote:

    Originally posted by spyder

    I'm from the US, and from where I'm from people call Black Leopards "Panthers" as well. Usually the word Black is attached to it though. Black Panther. If it's a leopard that's not black then it's just a leopard, or a spotted leopard.



    We have lynx's in my hometown. Crazy looking cats they are.




    Unless, of course, it's the Pink Panther.
  • Reply 17 of 20
    I reckon a really cool name would be Mac OS X Leo.



    It also gives them opportunity to market something with "stellar perfomance" etc etc.



    Hmm, cheese on toast.
  • Reply 18 of 20
    Quote:

    Originally posted by MPMoriarty

    That's crazy talk. Of course there's a connection. If you count the number of spots the average leopard has, divide by the amount of Macworlds in a year and then multiply by the % of market share of OS X you will be able to determine how many new features Leopard will have.



    LOL!



    ..But I really don't think Steve will settle for an average leopard, so how do we get a good estimate of the number of spots?
  • Reply 19 of 20
    santasanta Posts: 67member
    We've really run out of decent cat names, so I suggest Apple move to star/star system names.



    Hows Orion sound? Heaps to pick from.



    Sadalbari, "lucky star of the excellent one" describles SJ to a tee.



    The beauty of this is that Apple can make up any old name it likes, and name a star/OS after it. Perhaps run competitions for names.
  • Reply 20 of 20
    Quote:

    Originally posted by radiospace

    They seem to be running out of cats. Let's see what's left:



    Lion -- sounds weird for an OS, somehow

    Ocelot -- sounds cool, but its a little cat, maybe the OS for a tablet or set-top media box?

    Cougar -- too Ford Motor Co., and same animal as a Puma

    Lynx/Bobcat -- see Ocelot, above

    Serval -- this cat looks like a llaama with spots. I don't see it, personally.






    don't knock it, could be worse. the MS Windows potentials are -



    Windows Longhorn

    Windows Hereford

    Windows Jersey

    and my fav, Windows Cow
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