User blog comment:Megadracosaurus/Why I think Ghira is a leopard/@comment-1292715-20181223122556/@comment-24018437-20181223190616

There isn't really a difference between the two. A black panther is, in this context, literally just a melanistic leopard, meaning its born with black fur. Its not a different species or animal. It would be the equivelent of calling a black cat a different species then a ginger or brown one. So if we do at one point pinpoint his species, 'panther' would be a wrong way of refering to him. The term 'panther' is...confusing. There are many ways of using it.


 * Panther is sometimes used to refer to the Panthera genus, and can therefore refer to a lion, leopard, snow leopard, jagur or tiger.
 * Panther is also an alternative name for various other cats, such as pumas, leopards and jaguars.
 * Traditionally, any species of large cat that happens to be black is called a panther. In practice, this generally only applies to jaguars and leopards as they're the only cats in which melanism is more common then in others. While rumours of black lions exist, there is no evidence to support their existence and they therefore only exist in theory. There have also never been confirmed sightings of black pumas or snow leopards. Black tigers do exist, but they are extremely rare. As far as I know, only two were ever born in captivity and a pelt was once taken from a poacher.

So yeah. If Ghira does share his species with the character he alludes to, he's a leopard. Calling him a panther would be pretty inaccurate and vague when examining what a panther actually refers too.