Black Panther

[Chainsaw385]

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/10/science/10jaguar.html?pagewanted=all

I remember seeing a special on Nat Geo,AP or one of the others about Jaguars in the US a few years ago.....at that time they were not sure if a breeding population was here or just a few straglers from time to time........Isn't black a fairly common color phase of Jaguars?.........I also always thought Mountain Lions could not be black ?????

 

[Atlantakycklingar]

I don't know about the OP's picture or what, but I definitely saw a black panther on Tybee Island, GA earlier this year. Clear as day, about 4-5 times the size of a large housecat. Ran from next to a pond into the forest which was about 40 ft away in about 6 "bounds."

Say what you want, I guarantee you it was not a housecat.

 

[dixiebeast]

I live near Lake Greenwood and about twice a year I would see a black"panther"(prob cougar) cross hwy 560 on my daily drive...my husband laughed at me until a guy at work was saying he saw one in that area. Then the other week some of our neighborhood boys said they were walking and kept hearing a woman scream late one night.Well DNR has been in the hood all week trying to trap whatever left the huge paw prints down the street!! I can lay my hand open in this print(seen the pics with a hand in them). BUT THEY SAY THERE ARE NONE ALSO! LOL

And the lil town has a trapper coming in for those nonexistant coyotes I listen to every night! My DD(she is 15) actually walked up on kits behind the house on our trail back in summer...she knows to back out slow and our wonderdawg is always with the kids outside!!

All I know is my horses and chickens are not alone out there in the dark and wonderdawg can only do so much...coyotes he can handle...a big cat...IDK

 

[WillieBoy]

Sorry folks ,i just don't believe much of what the DEC says, concerning Black Cougars , etc, let alone Woodmart...! We've heard the same nonsense about coyotes, and this and that.If folk's going back generations have seen the big cats themselves,where they are not suppose to exist, why do you doubt...?
Do you believe everything these goverment wildlife " experts" say...? They don't know, they are text book taugt, most haven't a clue like grandfathers of past generation do...Give me a break Woodmart...! Coyotes,Black Panthers, are you the expert in this field...??? Or do you just believe everyhing the goverment says...??????

 

[Boggy Bottom Bantams]

It's always funny to me how all the ones that " get seen" are always BLACK panthers, they never see the normal tawny tan grey color. True they can come in black, they also can come in white yet no one ever sees a white??? On a genetic sense, a felis concolor, Florida Panther, is no different than a Mt lion, just a smaller cousin. Around here, we have them, but when you hear folks say they saw one, they always get asked, "was it a black one" and yep, it always it.... well, it about 1 in 1,000,000 odds of a panther or cougar to be born black. So according to the sightings there must be trillions of the normal ones out there???
There has been tons of research both by Government agencies and wild life biologist in a private field. All conclude that there honestly is no such thing in the wild in any kind of numbers.
I know I know,,,let the bash talking begin...
But for those of you who swear you saw one, look at it this way, at a 100 yards what color does a deer look? Or even closer in low light
Why are there no hard core photos to back one up?
I have looked and looked for years, never seen a single pic of a true black florida panther.
Why do you never see a dead black one, all road kill and hunted or trapped ones are always tan?

Come on, if everyone only sees BLACK ones, why are there no pics?
Now leopards dont count either so dont go posting leopard pics and calling it a black panther.
My sister swears she saw one and gets mad at me for telling her all this too, so I'm use to it... but the numbers just dont match up.
It's funny, we had an argument over it a year or so ago, The next night the Discovery Channel had a hour long show on about it.... same conclusion, while they can be black, there virtually is never more than one alive at any given time. They are a super rarer color mutation that just doesnt happen very much. They also went threw dozens of so called eye witness photos, all were house cats...

I love the big cats, always have, been fascinated with them my whole life... but find it strange how all the sightings are of a 1 in a million color phase.

I've seen quite a few in my life, all tan though

 

[MomKat]

Here in LA (Lower Alabama) there have been reports of jaguarundi around the Mobile Delta for years. The "gummint" even acknowledges that they are here. These cats are larger than a housecat and have rounded heads and ears, and the grey color phase can be almost black. There are also cougars here. My husband hunts the river swamps north of Mobile, and has occasionally come home talking about seeing a "long-tailed cat" - the local name for a "big" cat with a long tail, a cougar or jaguarundi, but definitely not a bobcat. We have those moving through our neighborhood sometimes!

I am originally from rural Mississippi, just north of the Louisiana line about an hour north of St. Tammany parish. We have long-tailed cats sometimes there, too - they are a terrible thing to hear when they scream! I do not doubt that the folks in St. Tammany Parish saw something, but what it was I can't say. It wouldn't surprise me if it were any of these things - a black "panther", jaguar, jaguarundi, or just a very large black housecat.

And just for good measure, my own very large black housecat, or "porch panther" as my friends call him, has been spooking the neighborhood kids for years, especially around Halloween!

 

[1 hen and 1 roo]

Quote:
My husband pastors a church in the Blackfork Valley in AR. One Sunday morning as I was driving in through the OK side headed to Blackfork, there was a HUGE animal that looked like a mountain lion come out into the road and quickly turn back into the woods as I drove across the old metal bridge. Others out there say they have seen mountain lions.

Neighbor down below us posted a pic at a deer stand this week of a mountain lion standing over a buck eating it. It may be near my house.

We've also heard screams from what we have been told are black panthers out in our area.

When you live near a Mountainous National Forest, you will encounter all sorts of wild animals.

We've been noticing that something is trying to get into our chicken coops and quickly dismissed it because we thought it was a our horse. We had him in the front yard eating the grass in the same area where the chicken coops are and assumed it was him trying to get to the chicken feed. But now I am not really sure it is him or not.

 

[dixiebeast]

I think why everyone SEEs black is it is an unusual color that does not provide good cammo for the big cat...I rarely see a bobcat but I know I more are there,just blending in. Heck I sat in the stand the other night and didn't see the deer over the ridge until I started down and saw the flashes of white...BROWN and associated colors blend into the enviroment!!

I know there are cougars here...only because I have seen the black so I know others are being more sucessfull at hiding out!!

 

[Egiroux]

It's the same deal with mountain lions up here in Maine. People see them but the state won't acknowledge it. I used to live in Louisiana, St. Tammany and up in the northern part of the state. I remember the stories of the panthers but never saw one.

 

[woodmort]

Quote:
As a matter of fact, yes. And I have worked in the field. What are your credentials? BTW it is woodmOrt.