"Aussie Panther" thread

[VladTepes]

OK following on from my ****take thread re the tiger @ stanthorpe some interesting discussion has been generated.

There have long been rumours of "big cats" (aka panthers, aka the Lithgow cat / panther) roaming the Australian bush.



Some people swear to have seen them,.
Others are highly skeptical.
For others it's just a bit of fun.

For some it's a very emotive issue, however I strongly suggest nobody gets too defensive in these discussions.

From time to time tabloid newspapers and shows like A Current Affair run a story on it - when there are no diets to report on one presumes - and the true beleivers emerge from the darkness.

Hunt for the black panther - National - www.smh.com.au



It was the article reproduced here :
snopes.com: 'Panther' shot in Australia
where a fella claimed to have shot one, along with dubious photography and even more dubious reasons as to why he couldn't produce the corpse that reiginited interest in the story.

Note the dates, interesting timing I'd suggest.

Anyway...

If you are interested GOOGLE is your friend

Look up cryptozoology for general info on cryptids and google australian panther and you could spend years.... and many have.

There are sites purporting to be scientific
Australian Panther Research - N.S.W Government Report
but don't take these at face value - subject them to your own critical analysis.

The Mysterious Australia site is full of "sightings" of Aussie Panthers and all manner of wonderful beasts....

Research of the Australian Panther





(My favourite thing about these animals is there apparent ability to bend light so they go out of focus in the presence of cameras).


Discuss.

[reubsrover]

Can't claim to hae seen one, the neighbour had a plaster cast of a similar large cat footprint to the photographed one below until his house burnt down in the '06 fires and here's my only other contribution.

My brother's camera case (about the sixe of an i-phone) next an interesting foot print in the Grampians, home of the Big Black Cat just look at our local store, it's painted on it.

[isuzurover]

Aren't there enough threads on here about BS and myths...?

I would bet all the pictures are just of feral cats, that have (in a few cases) grown lage through years of natural selection/breeding in the wild. Note there is no frame of reference in most pics - or when there is the person/object is suspiciously far back in the background.

In June 2005, deer hunter Kurt Engel shot and killed this large animal in the rugged terrain near the town of Sale, Victoria, Australia. Engel cut off its tail and dumped the body in a nearby river.

People thought that he had captured the famed "Gippsland Big Cat", believed to be mascot pumas released by US soldiers during World War II.

DNA testing, however, revealed that the creature was a very, very large feral cat

[DeeJay]

the Australian black Panther

[V8Ian]

Panthers used to be a common sight around Brisbane, they're all but extinct now though.

[JDNSW]

In 1966 I was waiting for a plane to arrive on a claypan in the middle of the Simpson Desert. I saw a large black animal on the other side of the claypan. Arming myself with the Toyota's crankhandle, I cautiously approached it. When I was about twenty feet away, it sort of suddenly came into focus as a normal sized cat.

What I think happened, was that with nothing familiar on the claypan to compare size with, it was not until it got close enough that binocular vision gave me a distance clue that I was able to correctly "see" its size. I wonder how many other sightings have similar explanation?

John

[rick130]

[snip]
From time to time tabloid newspapers and shows like A Current Affair run a story on it - when there are no diets to report on one presumes - and the true beleivers emerge from the darkness.

Hunt for the black panther - National - www.smh.com.au



[snip]

Discuss.

I think the journos at the Sydney Morning Herald would be more than a little miffed at being called 'tabloid' journo's

The SMH is a broadsheet form the same stable as The Age in Melbourne, competing with The Australian in the marketplace as a 'respectable' newspaper.

and I have no dog in this fight either, but here's another SMH article On the hunt for the big cat that refuses to die

<edit> and more http://web.mac.com/rebeccalang/Stran...ian_Media.html I think she might be a journo for the Hawkesbury Gazette.

[zuno555]

the panther is on this forum, right in front of your eyes!!





ricks avatar! quick get the camera!

[vnx205]

In 1966 I was waiting for a plane to arrive on a claypan in the middle of the Simpson Desert. I saw a large black animal on the other side of the claypan. Arming myself with the Toyota's crankhandle, I cautiously approached it. When I was about twenty feet away, it sort of suddenly came into focus as a normal sized cat.

What I think happened, was that with nothing familiar on the claypan to compare size with, it was not until it got close enough that binocular vision gave me a distance clue that I was able to correctly "see" its size. I wonder how many other sightings have similar explanation?

John

I have no doubt at all that a huge number of sighting of large beasts can be explained in that way.

Most people have no idea just how unreliable our perception is and how easily it can be fooled. It only takes a small inaccuracy in the estimation of the distance to give an exaggerated impression of the size.

Anyone who doubts how poor we are at judging size should take note of the apparent size of a full moon as it rises and compare it with the size it appears to be when it is overhead. On the horizon it looks enormous, yet it is really the same size and it even creates the same size image on our retina. The apparent change in size happens entirely in our brain.

The optical illusions below work because our perception is so easily fooled.

1. The cars appear to be different sizes, but are actually the same.

2. The tiny figure in the foreground is actually the same size as the figure in the background, yet it looks much smaller. The tall figure with the pipe looks the same size as the background figure, but is much larger.

3. The tabletops are the same shape and size. If you don't believe me, print the image and cut out the tabletops.

The fact that someone believes they saw something that was not really there does not mean they are dishonest, blind, stupid or drunk. It just makes them normal. Our senses are notoriously unreliable.

Most "sightings" can be explained in the same way as John's experience.

[slug_burner]

I have no doubt at all that a huge number of sighting of large beasts can be explained in that way.

Most people have no idea just how unreliable our perception is and how easily it can be fooled. It only takes a small inaccuracy in the estimation of the distance to give an exaggerated impression of the size.

Anyone who doubts how poor we are at judging size should take note of the apparent size of a full moon as it rises and compare it with the size it appears to be when it is overhead. On the horizon it looks enormous, yet it is really the same size and it even creates the same size image on our retina. The apparent change in size happens entirely in our brain.

The optical illusions below work because our perception is so easily fooled.

1. The cars appear to be different sizes, but are actually the same.

2. The tiny figure in the foreground is actually the same size as the figure in the background, yet it looks much smaller. The tall figure with the pipe looks the same size as the background figure, but is much larger.

3. The tabletops are the same shape and size. If you don't believe me, print the image and cut out the tabletops.

The fact that someone believes they saw something that was not really there does not mean they are dishonest, blind, stupid or drunk. It just makes them normal. Our senses are notoriously unreliable.

Most "sightings" can be explained in the same way as John's experience.

What do you mean? The moon is orbiting around the earth and when it is up in the night sky it is further away than when just above the horizon that is why it looks smaller