o my god. you know everything about felines
I wish. The first page or so of this thread is me asking TeaLovingDave questions!!
Now, I don't want to get this thread into a whole
Cryptidzoology mode but I want to hear your guy's opinions on some rumors and stories about Big Cats.
1) Surviving Eastern Cougars (Puma Concolor Schorgeri) still living in the Northeastern U.S. and in the Canadian portion of the Appalachian Mountains (if you believe they're/were a seperate subspecies). Now where I live lots of people have reported seeing cougars an occasion in my town! Now, these people know the difference between a lynx, bobcat, domectic cat, and cougar so when I hear these stories describing the same animal and in the same relative area, I believe them. I have never seen one, though, and I don't think there's more then two or three but there was even a incident a few years ago down my road involving a big cat (described as being black in color). I'm doing volunteer work in January where most of the sightings occur so I'll keep you posted but tell me what you think of all this.
2) Black panthers in Australia. The story goes that, in WWII, U.S. naval officers kept black leopard cubs on their ships and when they got too big, they released them where they were- Australia (this is actually a true part of history). Now hundreds of people are reporting seeing big Black Leopards in the Australian bush but whenever samples are brought in, they come back as dog leading to people believing in a huge government cover-up (along with the Thylacine cover-up
). Now one guy, took evidence captured in the brush from a supposed Black Leopard and mixed it with evidence taken from a leopard in a zoo and sent it in. The results came back as dog!!!!!!!
3) Beast of Exmoor. People, since the 1970's, have been reporting seeing and having their livestock killed by big cats that range in color from cougar tan to leopard black. One women reported having over 100 sheep killed by wounds to the throat in three years by the cats. One man in Devon reported finding a big cat skull on his farm. The skull was of a cougar.
4) Now this last one is the least likely in my opinion. It's the story of the Sudan Tiger (Panthera Tigris Sudanensis). Paleontologist and Zoologist Paules E. P. Deraniyagala visited Africa and reported finding the fur of a tiger in Cairo Bazaar in 1951. The seller told him the animal was shot in Sudan and he declared the animal a new subspecies of tiger. Paules took a picture of the fur and scientists stated that the fur was of a Caspian Tiger (Panthera Tigris Virgata) and was probably smuggled into the country because the animal was so rare at the time.
. I got that info. off a TV show (canceled TV show at that). Probably should have gotten more credibility on that before posting it. The point is, there is something going on in the Australian bush.