Plus incredible paws, the thickest fur in the animal kingdom, and almost impossible to spot. My favorite after the Tiger.
Ay yi yi. In the history of the Americas there have been 2.5 bazillion cougars shot, poisoned, trapped, treed , photographed, and run over. The next black cougar/panther will be the first. Finding someone who said they saw one is no mean feat. Drop me in any crossroads podunk town anywhere in the south and I can find someone in an hour willing to swear on their grandma’s Bible that they seen one, one time (this includes anyone who knows what a Tate’s Hell is). Of course, when you press the interrogation a little further, it’s always the Baptist preacher who actually saw it or grandpa based upon the premise that Baptist preachers and grandpas lie less than the rest of us mortals. My grandma, who ate too many squirrel brains and drank too much muscadine wine once saw a rattle snake pop a weeping willow tree and kill it graveyard dead in an hour. I’ve heard ‘em all. (all in fun. not directed at you River - I got the humor in your article)
Yep, that’s a leopard. Leopards and Jaguars are spotted and have black hair as part of the spot or rosette. Easy to understand some small percentage are melanistic mutants and black all over. Scientific name of cougars/panthers is Felis concolor- literally “cat of one color”.
All too often we hear/read ridiculous stories about schooling. The validation invariably comes from "my wife who is a teacher" or "my friend's spouse who is a teacher." This somehow qualifies them to reach conclusions about the state of schooling throughout the U.S.
I get it, of course. Bigfoot, Yeti, swamp apes, skunk apes, the New Jersey devil ... And I hesitate to post this, but ... this is a true story: I'm very familiar with that part of the state and maybe 10-12 years ago my wife and I were driving east on US 98. Drove through Carrabelle, I don't think we'd gotten to Lanark Village yet. It was morning, but full light. The road is pretty close to the water there with no houses. An black animal came out of the brush along the water and crossed the road, right to left. My first thought was that it was a large black lab, of course. But then I realized it had longer legs, a flat face and didn't move anything like a dog. I yelled out "That's a cat." My wife quickly agreed. It continued on into the woods on the left. I regret to this day that I didn't stop to look for prints. When I got home to Jacksonville, I went online to see if Florida panthers were ever black. If they were, I'd never heard. I didn't mention the location in my search, but the first sites that popped up were about the black panther of Carrabelle. Like I said, I've spent time in Franklin County for 40 years but had never heard of the cat. The few photos of seen with those stories are from so far away that they could be of a panther ... or a house cat. That's all I can tell you.
I was out volunteering with a state park ranger (this would have been goldhead or o'leno, somewhere in the late 90s), we were driving the outer fence of the park, when he screamed out, "there it is", bolted out the door of the truck and started running down the dirt road. He was convinced there was a black panther in the park and he had just spotted it (again). We spent thirty minutes looking for tracks and didn't come up with anything. But I can tell you he was convinced he saw it.
And it’s back…. A New Hampshire Senate Candidate…. Do you think he’s actually this stupid, or just thinks his potential voters are this stupid? “Guess what? We have furries and fuzzies in classrooms,” Bolduc told the crowd. “They lick themselves, they’re cats. When they don’t like something, they hiss – people walk down the hallway and jump out,” he said, as a hissing sound could be heard. “And get this, get this,” he continued. “They’re putting litter boxes, right? Litter boxes for that. … These are the same people that are concerned about spreading germs. Yet they let children lick themselves and then touch everything. And they’re starting to lick each other.” “I wish I was making it up,” concluded Bolduc. “I honestly wish it was a ‘Saturday Night Live’ skit. GOP New Hampshire Senate nominee repeats hoax that kids are using litter boxes in schools | CNN Politics
Black panthers now a thing up here (again). From a local FB page this lady lists her evidence as: She's a native She respects her elders, and The old timers tell stories of black panthers. she also mentions I wouldn't know because I'm not from these mountains. I'm convinced. To those who are not from the area originally and want to argue there are no black panthers, feel free, but please know this. We natives are from a place where we still believe and respect our elders. The "old timers" have oft told stories of Black panthers. We respect and believe them. We are a people of oral tradition and history. We do not have to see everything to know it exists.They are here and they do exist"
There is an OLD nature video from South America where the are following a large BP talking about it being the singular apex predator. Then an anaconda swallows it.
The only reason it’s being peddled is that it is plausible in today’s world. I don’t think it’s happening, but you’d be lying if you said you’d be shocked to find out it truly has happened. Just when you though you’d seen it all….give it a few years.
Yeah, the whole "this feels right even if it isn't factual" explanation has more to do with the people claiming it than anybody else.
Exactly. It’s fiction that people make up and spread because they obviously think they don’t have enough real things to say bad about the other side of the aisle,
My point was this sort of thing only gets traction due to the fact schools are allowing children to use bathrooms they identify with instead of what they really are. If schools actually made all children use the bathroom according to their actual gender, a story about furries gets no where fast.
Yeah, transgendered people exist, so now lets make up some people because we think they don't. Reminds me a bit of how we would all be having sex with animals if gay sex was made not illegal.
