Some Commonly Confused Animals: Can You Tell Them Apart?

1— Leopard and Jaguar

I put this one first because a lot of people struggle with it. Someone called it a tiger on one thread sef. The difference between other big cats is clear to many of us. What of a leopard and jaguar?

The easiest way to differentiate both is from their coats (skin). While they both have rosettes with that of the leopard being more compact, the jaguar’s rosettes have black spots in them.

Both cats can be melanistic (black panthers), this would make it trickier to identify them. At this point you will have to rely on other things (e.g) size (jaguars are bigger, with bigger heads), habitat, attitude to preys and bigger animals…etc

Pic 1: Leopard

Pic 2: Jaguar

Pic 3: Black panther and his leopardess spouse. An article I read said they have been together for 4yrs. Some of you can’t even stay 1yr .

Pic 4: What is happening here

2— Turtle and Tortoise

Turtles are fully aquatic, semi-aquatic or mostly on land. Tortoise on their part are fully on land and not in any way equipped to survive in water.

Turtle feets are webbed, while tortoises have short stumpy feet, helping them in moving on land.

Pic 1: Sea turtle (the only turtles with flippers)

Pic 2: Tortoise

Pic 3: Box turtle

3— Alligator and Crocodile

You can easily tell the difference by looking at their heads/mouths. The Crocodile’s head is mostly V-shaped. Alligator heads are U-shaped. Also, the teeth of the crocodile are never concealed.

I intentionally tried not to complicate the plot by adding caimans and gharials.

Pic 1: Crocodile

Pic 2: Alligator (Alligators are darker)

Pic 3: Boss moves

Pic 4: Somewhere in Epe, Lagos, Nigeria. Some people see premium meat, some Himalayan Birkin…conservationists would be enraged.

4— Bison and Buffalo.

There was a travel thread on NL where the OP tagged a bison a buffalo and it took a sharp eye to spot the error. It is easy to tell the difference if you focus on the horn and beard.

Bisons have small sharp horns, while buffalos have longer protruding horns- not forgetting the arc. The bison‘s frame looks inappropriate and it spots a hump that the buffalo doesn’t have. Buffalos are beardless, unlike bison.

Pic 1: Bison

Pic 2: Buffalo

5— Porcupine and Hedgehog Despite how similar these creatures look, they are not closely related at all. Hedgehog(known as idiot by many Nigerians) is smaller in body size. It quills are shorter but fuller. Porcupine on the other hand is bigger, has visible tail and longer quills. Courtesy: Kondomatîc. Pic 1: Porcupine Pic 2: Hedgehog Pic 3: Leopard taking a chance with a porcupine, what do you think happens next? Are there animals you struggle to tell apart or can easily tell apart? Feel free to add them.