Board Thread:WARNING ALL USERS False Info\Spoilers/@comment-58.168.99.96-20130909120148/@comment-13899768-20130909181614

Actually, either way in the Teen Wolf world, a Kanima is a reptile. Jeff Davis said in an interview he was inspired by Conan the Barbarian (I think this is the movie, not sure) and by the myth itself. While yes, the actual myth is a Jaguar, Jeff decided to go more snake-like and that's where people are constantly quoting what Derek said about it on the show "Sometimes the shape you take reflects the person that you are." Therefore, Jackson was a "snake" on the inside, making him a "snake" on the outside.

To the transformation point you bring up, his skin changes colors but they look a lot more reptilian scales than they do rosettes, to me at least. I don't think he was ever meant to be a jaguar, it wouldn't make sense to introduce another were-animal into a world we hardly know anything about in its second season, but that's just my opinion. While the Kanima has it's basis in real myths and legends, it was tweaked to fit what they wanted to do, and portray, just like the werewolves maintaining more humanity and less wolf-like characteristics.