Are cougars and panthers the same?

The word "panthers" is usually used in the phrase "black panthers", meaning large black wild cats. The word "panther" is a generic word and not a scientific term meaning large wild cat. Whereas "cougar" is one of the many words describing the puma, which is the technically more correct word for the mountain lion. There are other names for this large wild cat.

Cougars can be black panthers. Black cougars will be melanistic cougars which are cougars that have turned black or very dark charcoal grey due to the presence of a recessive gene.

The word panther is also used to describe the jaguar or leopard especially black coated jaguars and leopards when as mentioned they are referred to as black panthers.

The generic word "panther" is never used to describe the lion or tiger.