A purrfectly fun thread.

[Patton]

It's a topic I have studied my entire life and based many school projects on it. There are four species of cats that are indigenous to N America Puma conclor, Panthera onca, Lynx rufus, Lynx canadensis. There have been black, Lynx rufus floridaious (bobcat) killed in Martin County Florida one in 1939 and one taken in 1940. There are very good photographs of some recently in Martin Co with one that could easily be mistaken as black leopard but he is missing a tail. There have been as recently as the 1930's large blue cats killed in Alaska but I can't recall much about them.

Diablo is probably the closest documented case of a black leopard we have in N America but he was not born in the wild. He can be found at a zoo in Omaha Nebraska, he was breed from two normal leopards.

[1morethan8]

This was posted on the S&W Forum two weeks ago...

"Big cats in Appalachia?

I have heard of the occasional mountain lion living in parts of the Appalachians but had never seen one until I was driving the Blue Ridge Parkway earlier today. Just outside of Roanoke in Franklin County plain as day, one was walking right near the guard rail seemingly undaunted by my suv or the acura riding my tail.

I have seen many of them in zoos and in pictures so I realized what it was right away, but it had a noticeably darker coat.

About a year ago a customer at the LGS was adamantly describing a very large black cat darting across the highway. I don't buy the rumors of some escaped jaguar or panther population living in the mountains but with all the deer, rabbit, stray cats and coyotes in the area I am a firm believer there is a steady supply of food to support a population of big cats in my neck of the woods."

I'm wondering just how long it's going to be until the wildlife people say..."Yes, they are here."?

[Dolomite`s Breezy]

I dont know why people still think we have them here..sigh

All this technology and no clear picture or a body or a video.....

more anectodal accounts of sightings..again....

[Caster]

[Guest sL1k]

I just hope i dont see any when i go to vote today

[1morethan8]

"All this technology and no clear picture or a body or a video.....

more anectodal accounts of sightings..again...."

Sour Kraut..You guys in Knoxville wouldn't believe it anyway!

Caster.. LOL! Good one!

[K191145]

Tigger, a big ol fat house cat.

[Will Carry]

Cats that look like hitler?

[1morethan8]

Miss Gray.. she is 18 years old...

[E4 No More]

Glad to see we're back on topic.

[1morethan8]

"Glad to see we're back on topic."

Cats? Right!?

[strickj]

This little bugger showed up just in time for Halloween. Mommy cat is an American Bombay aka "miniature black panther".

How ya like that OS?

[kieefer]

This guy lives in Williamsburg, VA.

[kieefer]

BUMP  :D

 

 

 

[Patton]

|\__/|
(='.'=)
(")_(")
Kitty!

[bubbiesdad]

[1morethan8]

What!? No panther pictures yet! :rofl:

[Oh Shoot]

What!? No panther pictures yet! :rofl:

 

This one's been hanging around my back deck for a week or so.

 

Sorry for the so-so focus, cell phone camera through my sliding glass doors:

 

 

 

- OS

[1morethan8]

Oh Shoot... if it was anyone else, I may not doubt them! :pleased:

 

I didn't say all I know in the other post...

 

But yes, I have seen pictures of a large black cat that was shot in east TN. The friend had several pictures with him in the pictures. He didn't report this to the TWRA or anyone else. This was about 5 years ago, cat was shot in Polk County.

Could it have been a pet... I guess it could?

 

Three years ago me and a friend were turkey hunting on Signal Mountain. My friend's uncle was the land owner where we hunted, The next door neighbor has a small farm with several animals on his place. The neighbor had several killed.

It was a large cat... a cougar had been spotted several times by the farmer. My friend's uncle had seen the cat a week before our hunt and by the time he got his camera, the cat was in the road, which is about 75-100 yards from his house

 

Close up...

 

 

Normal camera range from front porch...

 

 

The weekend after the pictures were taken, we were hunting the next Saturday. When we returned, the next door farmer was at my friend's uncle's house. He told us that he shot the cougar that morning and was going to bury it without anything being said. The four of us return to where the dead cat was. It was a cougar. I don't know if it was a pet... or a cougar from Florida... or where it come from? It looked just like a western cougar!

 

So, are large cats in east TN? I know for a fact that they are! This wasn't a picture or video!

 

So joke as you may... but I know the real truth.

[Oh Shoot]

Close up...
 

 
Normal camera range from front porch...
 

 
So, are large cats in east TN?  

 

Yep, large. About the size of a top end full grown Maine coon.

 

 

- OS

Edited December 19, 2012 by Oh Shoot

[1morethan8]

OS...

 

Nothing to worry your pretty little head about... they are all just "Pets"!

 

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25315829/ns/us_news-weird_news/t/cat-killed-missouri-identified-leopard/#.UJLARWeBy9s

 

Maybe some day all the so-called "Experts" will pull even with us dumb-ass hillbillies...

but I doubt it!

[Patton]

OS,
I didn't know you lived in Omaha, NE. I recognize that guy as Diablo. I'll have to look but I believe he recently passed away. Edited December 19, 2012 by Patton

[Patton]

I'm surprised that MO news story hasn't blown up but there is not a documented "black species". Until recently in India a black Panthera has never given birth to another black Panthera. The one in MO is most likely a alleles of a gene known as melanism. I don't doubt that he was black but most likely he had "ghost markings" instead of a solid black pelt.

[1morethan8]

REALLY!!!!

 

Would it surprise you to know that a zoo in China has inbred cats to get black cubs? Scientist are thinking this may be the reason for animals to be melanistic. The black whitetail deer that are found in Texas are believed to be for the same reason.

 

The only fact in science... is what is thought to be fact is always changing!

 

How about twin black cubs...

 

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2173186/Twin-panther-cubs-instant-hit-public-zoo-debut.html

 

"The term 'black panther' can be confusing, with scientists agreeing it does not refer to a specific sub-species of big cat.
Most generally, the term refers to any type of big cat with a black coat - though the only scientifically recognised definitions are a black leopard and a black jaguar."

...Some cougars have been know to be melanistic... but it's not fact until documented by experts.

[Patton]

I didn't say it was impossible for jaguars to have two melanistic cubs. Normally it doesnt happen but the odds of one being melanistic is 1/10k, probably the odds of 2 in a litter is 50/50 out of the 1/10k. Those little guys are cute but display a classic example of ghost spots.

Diablo that mentioned earlier was born in captivity but was truly solid black.