Concolor means one color. Cougar adults are a uniform tawny color with lighter fur on their lower chests, belly, and inner legs. This uniform color conceals them effectively in a variety of settings including the open range. Cougar kittens are spotted, which helps to camouflage them in the shadows of their den. These spots fade as they approach maturity at the end of their first year.
Tails help balance the body, especially during ambush pounces on prey.
The subspecies name coryi comes from naturalist and hunter Charles Barney Cory who first described the panther as a subspecies of cougar in 1896 in Hunting and Fishing in Florida . He named it Felis concolor floridana , but floridana had already been used for a subspecies of bobcat so scientists changed the name to Felis concolor coryi .