Thread: Big Cats, myth or real ?

Originally Posted by Roverlord off road spares

wait until they get a TATA motor instead, will you still call them a Land Rover?

I'll call them whatever I like, they're all in the bush and I'm at home!

Originally Posted by vnx205

A bit of information about that photo.

snopes.com: Garfield of Dreams

Thanks. However I am pretty sure the others are genuine Maine Coons.

Btw, your link says:

Turning to our Guinness Book of World Records, we find that they list the world's largest domestic cat as a male Queensland, Australia, tabby named Himmy who tipped the scales at just under 47 lbs [21 kg]. and was 38 inches long. However, the on-line version of Guinness includes an article and a picture of a whopping big kitty, but it still measures only 41 inches from tip to tail, well short of the 69 inches claimed for the critter in the picture above.

101Ron - hardly conclusive - a black cat with a long tail glimpsed late one night. There have been several black cats with long tails shot which have all turned out to be F. Catus.
This page: http://scienceblogs.com/tetrapodzool...ral-mega-cats/ lists one with a 25" tail that was reportedly 5' in total length.

About 18 years ago we graded a road(firetrack) in Kinglake and it poured rain straight after making it impassable. We then had to close the road due to this. We put the signs out at the bottom then drove the long way to the top. We pulled the truck up to put signs out and about 60ft in front of us a black puma jumped out of the dense bush and into the bush the other side. It was broad daylight and we got a very good look at the animal as it passed and I can tell you it was no feral cat as we saw the head/face as well and I've seen enough of them at zoo's/wildlife parks to be able to identify one. I looked at my fellow worker and said BLOODY HELL DID YOU SEE THAT?, he said what did you see? I said that was a bloody big black panther. He said FAR OUT (insert swear word) I thought I was seeing things, thats what I saw too!. We were both as white as ghosts. I said just put that sign out can ya. He promptly told me where to go and errrrrr, well you know the rest. We sat in the truck for about half an hour both too scared to get out. Eventually did it at 20 times the speed would normally do. IF FRIGHTENED THE YOU KNOW WHAT OUT OF BOTH OF US!. No one believed us and hey that's there right, Now I can tell you I/we know what we saw and it was no feral cat. We both got stirred about our experience and hey if I had not seen it with my own eyes I wouldn't believe it either but do they exist? Yes I've seen it and so did my work mate. You don't have to believe me but again we know what we saw. Was always a bit edgey working there after that.

I think the idea of Panther/Puma type cats being seen around the country, being descendants from animals released by American soldiers 70 years ago is totally wrong.
First I doubt they would have mated with local feral/domestic cats, more likely they would have eaten them.
Second for a species to survive about 7 generations it would need to have a diverse genetic pool. A few cats released 70 years ago does not add up to a genetic pool that could survive, even if a male and female Panther/Puma were released their offspring would die out because of lack of genetic diversity.
These cats must be very smart, in the millions of kilometres driving round this country I have never seen one as road kill. More likely over the last 200 years feral cats have evolved and some are growing big, something we can do without, lots of big pussy, Regards Frank.
If bunnys can grow this big, well......

Originally Posted by Tank

Second for a species to survive about 7 generations it would need to have a diverse genetic pool. A few cats released 70 years ago does not add up to a genetic pool that could survive, even if a male and female Panther/Puma were released their offspring would die out because of lack of genetic diversity.

Not really.

Countless eons ago something happened in Africa which decimated the Cheetah species to the point where todays total Cheetah population has been determined by genetic scientists as being the descendents of just four animals.

thats a huge rabbit! and the savannah cats look awesome! wish we could have them here! there are a lot of missing people in australia though, people whom have never been found or heard from again. whose to say they have not met an untimely end with a big black cat in the bush? there is a lot of this country that people do not really go to. lol. The big black feral cat that roams this property is pretty useless at catching mice haha.

Originally Posted by Epic_Dragon

thats a huge rabbit! and the savannah cats look awesome! wish we could have them here! there are a lot of missing people in australia though, people whom have never been found or heard from again. whose to say they have not met an untimely end with a big black cat in the bush? there is a lot of this country that people do not really go to. lol. The big black feral cat that roams this property is pretty useless at catching mice haha.

There have been no confirmed sightings of any "big cat" in Australia that hasn't turned out to be an ordinary (but large) feral cat (apart from escaped zoo animals which have usually been shot quickly).

Species are regarded as extinct if they haven't been seen for ~50 years or so(?)

It is much more likely that any missing persons who have died in the outback have succumbed to sharks / crocs / snakes / heat / dehydration / natural causes.

Originally Posted by isuzurover

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It is much more likely that any missing persons who have died in the outback have succumbed to sharks / crocs / snakes / heat / dehydration / natural causes.

Except in Tasmania, where they get eaten bones and all by Tasmanian Devils. There is a suggestion that Tas Devils are the reason Dot Butler's son hasn't been found yet.