Big black cats ( panther) Australia

[PythonLegs]

That's just not true. How long did it take to develop the maine coon? 100,000 years? Good grief.

 

[viciousred]

We aren't saying they have evolved to be the size of a leopard, but there are quite a few bigger then your average cat out there.
Of cause there not going to be in central australia, not enough cover or water for a large cat let alone a black one. Most of the places they have been seen are with plenty of prey and water.with the speed with witch cats can breed its certainly more likely than not.....
If there arent big cats out there what is YOUR explanations for some of these things? kills that look nothing like any of our natives kills, the scratch marks on those cows?.......

 

[Sinners121]

i actually i do believe one was shot and after testing proved to be a feral cat.

 

[SteveNT]

Yeah there was a private zoo that the hippo reportedly escaped from, apparently there are deer in the same region too.

I've also heard of monkeys on the cobourg penisular lol.

I've seen the Cobourg monkeys and troops running around like headless chooks looking for them. They are black footed tree rats and from a distance easily mistaken for monkeys, especially when climbing trees.

 

[Darlyn]

When I was kid we used to set rabbit traps, one day we caught the biggest cat I've ever seen, not only was
it bigger than a domestic cat but the bulk/ muscles of the animal were unbelievable.
Locals had always believed there were panthers in the mountains but after that , even tho it wasn't black I understood why people mistakenly believe they see panthers.

I also think that cats breeding in the bush would be a totally different kettle of fish than a cat that has run away and turned feral.

 

[Red-Ink]

When I was kid we used to set rabbit traps, one day we caught the biggest cat I've ever seen, not only was
it bigger than a domestic cat but the bulk/ muscles of the animal were unbelievable.
Locals had always believed there were panthers in the mountains but after that , even tho it wasn't black I understood why people mistakenly believe they see panthers.

I also think that cats breeding in the bush would be a totally different kettle of fish than a cat that has run away and turned feral.

Yeap... as I've said on a previous post I've seen feral cats built like bloody staffys, it's good to hear it ain't just me. A bit of reassurance that I'm not insane and seeing things that aren't there lol.

 

[Wally]

I think people sometimes make the mistake of thinking the feral cat/dog problem is only a few decades old.

 

[dale1988]

so aussie pride have you made any head way with going out searching at all mate would love to know if anything else has been seen at all?

 

[jahan]

I think people sometimes make the mistake of thinking the feral cat/dog problem is only a few decades old.

I shot a few big feral cats in the late 70`s when i was
working out at Greenvale Qld.
There was alot around back then.

 

[waruikazi]

The particular story i was told was from a ranger who recons he saw an orange rangtang swinging around in the trees while they were on a chopper ride. The explanation he gave for it was that the illegal fishers keep monkeys and other animals on their boats for fresh meat.

I'm not sure that i beleive that large monkies will survive in North Aus.

I've seen the Cobourg monkeys and troops running around like headless chooks looking for them. They are black footed tree rats and from a distance easily mistaken for monkeys, especially when climbing trees.

 

[viciousred]

"In the 1950s, a Russian geneticist named Belyaev began a long-term study of selection for tame behavior in foxes. The study was an attempt to domesticate the wild fox and make it behave like a domestic dog. By selecting and breeding the calmest fox pups from each litter with other gentle foxes, in 20 years Belyaev succeeded in turning wild foxes into tame, dog-like animals. In each generation, the selected foxes became tamer and tamer.

But, the changes in behavior occurred simultaneously with changes in ear shape, tail position, and the appearance of a white muzzle, forehead blaze, and white shoulder hair. The white color pattern on the head is similar to many domestic animals. The dog- like foxes looked like Border Collies and would whine and wag their tails when people approached. Unfortunately, the pelts were of little value because few people wanted black and white fur hats."

In just 20 years they changed the foxes appearance completely...

Its been been over 200 years since cats got here, a fox has 1 litter a year, a cat can have 3 or 4 you do the math...

As for line breeding being extremely rare in the wild, almost every single species, the strongest toughest biggest male gets to do the mating. The strongest kittens survive and the strongest biggest mothers protect them the best.

As for there there not being any 200 yr old lines out there, what was there a mass extinction of cats i didn't hear about in the last 150yrs??....

 

[Sinners121]

lets say that the a common house cat goes feral with other common house cats 150 years ago. with 3-4 litters a year, four or five years you have a large population of cats in a particular area. these cats then start to compete for food. the bigger and bigger cats get more food and breed more often. over 150 years the population continues to get bigger and bigger. a 150 years latter you have big big cats. and if you think about their only other competitors are other cats and foxes. so the bigger and meaner cats become more common. I think its unlikely that they are all black if they are cats.
well thats my input

 

[cement]

I'm a sceptic, if they were out there in the numbers like they would have us believe, they would be getting photographed, trapped and shot!

Not much escapes mankind these days, Large feral domesticated cats I have seen and believe, panthers............

Fear magnifies. I know, I'm a snake catcher and talk to a lot of public who believe they have huge snakes in their yard, but it just doesn't happen.

 

[Darlyn]

I will never forget that cat, it was chewing thru it's leg to get out. I know I have heard that story so many
times, but it actually was. We were only kids, but my brother wanted to take it home to show Dad, but he couldn't haul it that far, it was big!

 

[Nighthawk]

"In the 1950s, a Russian geneticist named Belyaev began a long-term study of selection for tame behavior in foxes. The study was an attempt to domesticate the wild fox and make it behave like a domestic dog. By selecting and breeding the calmest fox pups from each litter with other gentle foxes, in 20 years Belyaev succeeded in turning wild foxes into tame, dog-like animals. In each generation, the selected foxes became tamer and tamer.

But, the changes in behavior occurred simultaneously with changes in ear shape, tail position, and the appearance of a white muzzle, forehead blaze, and white shoulder hair. The white color pattern on the head is similar to many domestic animals. The dog- like foxes looked like Border Collies and would whine and wag their tails when people approached. Unfortunately, the pelts were of little value because few people wanted black and white fur hats."

In just 20 years they changed the foxes appearance completely...

Its been been over 200 years since cats got here, a fox has 1 litter a year, a cat can have 3 or 4 you do the math...

I saw that doco, it was fascinating. I think the whole thing was testing the premise of 'nature vs nurture' wasn't it? They even implanted 'wild' young with 'tame' mothers and vice versa, and the implanted wild remained so. It was the same with swapping litters from a day old, so the whole study basically proved that there is a genetic basis to domestication, at least when it comes to silver foxes.

 

[Aussie-Pride]

Engel Gippsland Big Cat - Where Light Meets Dark (www.wherelightmeetsdark.com)

so aussie pride have you made any head way with going out searching at all mate would love to know if anything else has been seen at all?

Nothing mate, not even the sheep. There have been quite a lot of sightings around there area from I have been told from a few people on here that live around that area other than that nothing. On Sunday there's a crew coming to put sensor cameras up and having a look around there property to see if they find anything.

 

[Jungle_Freak]

Thylacine Sightings near Brissy . Lets all keep our eyes peeled ....
Post Extinction Thylacine Sighting Google Earth Tour - Where Light Meets Dark ([url]www.wherelightmeetsdark.com)[/URL]

 

[Aussie-Pride]

Thylacine Sightings near Brissy . Lets all keep our eyes peeled ....
Post Extinction Thylacine Sighting Google Earth Tour - Where Light Meets Dark (www.wherelightmeetsdark.com)

photos or it didn't happen.

old footage (crappy quality) 1973 what do you think it is? Analysis of 1973 Thylacine Footage - YouTube

 

[-Katana-]

I believe that they are very large feral cats. I also firmly believe that the diet that we feed our house cats essentially stunts them. Eating whole small mammals gives them the correct ratio of nutrients that can't be given to them out of a tin with all it's preservatives and grain byproducts.
Sure you'll find smaller feral cats but I think that's a case of the animals not being in a prey rich environment and that would limit their potential.
And yes, genetics plays it's part much like how there can be a large discrepancy in size between human siblings.
Think about food items for your reptiles. Whole food items like rats, mice, chickens etc are an infinitely better food than feeding the old school reptile sausage.

 

[Aussie-Pride]

I believe that they are very large feral cats. I also firmly believe that the diet that we feed our house cats essentially stunts them. Eating whole small mammals gives them the correct ratio of nutrients that can't be given to them out of a tin with all it's preservatives and grain byproducts.
Sure you'll find smaller feral cats but I think that's a case of the animals not being in a prey rich environment and that would limit their potential.
And yes, genetics plays it's part much like how there can be a large discrepancy in size between human siblings.
Think about food items for your reptiles. Whole food items like rats, mice, chickens etc are an infinitely better food than feeding the old school reptile sausage.

I completely agree with you the diet of animals does play a big role on size, but to be taking on a full grown cow as some of these post have shown it would have to be one very large feral cat with a very large appetite. Also taking sheep wallabies and stripping them and with the photos of the large feral that had been shot by Kurt that measured an estimated 1.70m not including the head how are we to know that this was the animals maximum size.

I just ordered the book " Australian Big Cats An unnatural History of panthers" by Michael Williams & Rebecca Lang, Micheal is featured in quite a few of the links posted on the thread and has also posted on here so should be interesting.