Our Panther bill commemorates the mighty Black Panther. Black Panther is a name commonly used to refer to the black specimens of several varieties of cats. Regionally, those black cats are the Leopard (Asia and Africa), the Cougar (North America), and the Jaguar (South and Central America). Black Panthers are a melanistic variant of the respective species caused by a gene mutation. Close examination of one of these black cats, such as the Jaguar, will show that its typical markings are still there, but are simply hidden because of the surplus of the black pigment melanin.