Panthera? I thought that science told us that these cats were more related to Smilodon than they are to any cat alive today?
I can half see the reasoning behind snow leopards being referred to as Panthera, but I don't see how clouded leopard could ever be considered to be Panthera :s
I'm not going to doubt it if it's what the experts say, they're far more qualified to say than I am, it's just come as a bit of a shock and since these experts have said for so long they're completely different from all other species of living cat and now they're saying, actually, they're pretty close to lions and tigers.
What about their elongated fangs, diminuative size and the inability to 'properly roar' [just looked that up, apparantly they can 'kind of' roar, but not properly]. Anyway, do these not put it on a separate evolutionary path?
Really? I hadn't realised!
So Uncia is no longer valid?
Taxonomy confuses me, when I was younger it was Panthera and then I got used to it not being a big cat and now I'm being told it is again!
Really? I hadn't realised!
So Uncia is no longer valid?
Taxonomy confuses me, when I was younger it was Panthera and then I got used to it not being a big cat and now I'm being told it is again!
"Science, my lad, is made up of mistakes, but they are mistakes which it is useful to make, because they lead little by little to the truth."
-Jules Verne, Journey to the Centre of the Earth
Taxonomy is a an evolving text, like all sciences.
Really? I hadn't realised!
So Uncia is no longer valid?
Taxonomy confuses me, when I was younger it was Panthera and then I got used to it not being a big cat and now I'm being told it is again!
"Science, my lad, is made up of mistakes, but they are mistakes which it is useful to make, because they lead little by little to the truth."
-Jules Verne, Journey to the Centre of the Earth
Taxonomy is a an evolving text, like all sciences.
Thank you both, science is bloody hard to keep up with nowadays, species keep getting split or turn out to be completely unrelated to what they originally were. It's frustrating seeing books I spent money on go out of date within months!
And just so we're clear, clouded leopards are definitely neofelis nebulosa and neofelis diardi? Two distinct species in the same family?
