I talked to a conservation officer who said that alot of the rumors about the cougar are true! They are making a comeback in the east! He said that 2 have been confirmed in a nearby county. Allen county Indiana has also confirmed one sight of a large cat that has yet to be identified. It was black so I would assume it is a leopard or Jaguar. So it obviously has nothing to do with the cougar comeback, unless there are indeed melanistic cougars which is something that I have never heard of. So far there have been confirmed sightings in Illinios and Indiana. But sightings have been reported in Iowa, Minnesota, Michigan, and Wisconsin.
2006-11-21 03:40:20 · 4 answers · asked by Anonymous in Science & Mathematics ➔ Zoology
The sighting of the large black cat was confirmed by wildlife biologists! They said it is either a jaguar or leopard! It is true!
2006-11-21 18:13:30 · update #1
Your question is?
2006-11-21 04:46:06 · answer #1 · answered by rabbit0102030 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
My personal take is that there are two factors working in opposite directions on this.
A. The general public is not very reliable as far as identifying wildlife. So more puma are reported that exist.
B. The state DNRs are extremely skeptical about everyone's sightings. So less puma that probably exist are confirmed.
I bet you do have cougars sneaking around in the east. They have large home ranges, and can cover a lot of ground. Even in areas where they are common, they are not often seen. But the fact that you'll get people saying they saw a "black panther" or who knows what complicates the situation. And so does wildlife officials who don't want to manage for puma and don't want to believe any sighting.
2006-11-21 23:41:42 · answer #2 · answered by Strix 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
there are no jaguars or leopards in N. America....except in zoos. Not sure what people were seeing, maybe large black dogs. The average person is not very reliable about identifying wild life. Once had someone report a mountain lion in her yard that turned out to be a bobcat. Another claimed a coyote was a mountain lion!! I would not trust any sighting unless given by someone reliable with lots of wildlife experience.
2006-11-22 02:10:00 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
If you are asking if cougars are making a comeback, then yes, they are definetly making a comeback. However, there are several subspecies, one of which is the Florida Panther, and it is critically endangered. Cougars range from Yukon Territory to the Andes, and it has the largest population distribution of any New World land animals. There are no documented cases of melanism in cougars, but the reports are still common.
2006-11-21 16:29:08 · answer #4 · answered by cougar1331puma 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋