Black Panther for Children Amazing Animals To know what a black panther is, let's first talk about leopards and jaguars. Leopards and jaguars are big cats just like lions and tigers. Leopards and jaguars can also be called panthers. The normal coat color of panthers are yellow. Panthers look similar to your yellow pet cats except that they have spots all over their bodies and they are big. They're as big as police dogs. Can you now imagine a huge spotted yellow cat? That's how typical panthers look like. But some of them are born differently. Instead of being yellow or light brown, they're as black as charcoal or dark brown as chocolate. These dark leopards and jaguars are the black panthers.