Ok, maybe I'm crazy and maybe I'm seeing things, but earlier in the evening while riding with a buddy out in the middle of nowhere between I-10 and 290, I saw a cat. A freakin huge cat. It walked across the road and into a thicket. It was way to large to be a house cat and.... it had a LONG tail. And it looked to be black. My buddy saw it too and when we stopped on the road where it was there was a roadkill deer carcass. I don't know what else it could be. I know they say there haven't been black panthers in Texas in years but I don't know what else to make of it. If it was a bobcat it was the largest bobcat with the longest tail I have ever seen in my life. That is all.

Aoudad.[obligatory]

jaguarundi

A guy at work showed me pictures from his ranch near Rockney, Texas(basically Lockhart area) of a big black cat. Said it has been there for years

Oh boy, one of these.

I would LOVE to see pictures.

I'm tired of hearing "we won."

quote:

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A guy at work showed me pictures from his ranch near Rockney, Texas(basically Lockhart area) of a big black cat. Said it has been there for years

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let's pretend like we're all from Missouri

Easy on MO there killer.

Geo96's friend simply needs to contact one of the folks on this list, they love these calls-
http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/landwater/land/habitats/oak_prairie/regulatory/?county=bastrop
David Forrester especially

Amazingly, the photos never seem to show up

I would truely love for "black panther" to be shot or get a photo. Heck, I wish one of my mountain lion investigations would turn out to be a mountain lion.

[This message has been edited by ursusguy (edited 7/23/2009 12:05a).]

Rockne is about halfway between Lockhart & Bastrop in the middle of some prime black panther habitat. Many of us Gonzales Aggies drove up highway 304 through Rosanky (which is just a few miles east of Rockne) on our way to College Station.

It's a stretch of road, up north towards Bastrop
That's never ever, ever seen a smile
If they buried all them panthers, lost in them woods
There'd be a tombstone every mile.
Count 'em off, there'd be a tombstone every mile.

quote:

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I know they say there haven't been black panthers in Texas in years but I don't know what else to make of it.

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Try black lab.

Black Panthers

Sure it wasn't a Liger?

It may have been a jaguarundi but it looked bigger. Maybe it was a schnauzer.

I'd love to see those pictures from the Bosque River. I was raised in that area, how long ago was it that you saw the cat?

quote:

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Try black lab.

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Probably a lot of sightings today, but 100+ years ago there were no labs to speak of.

I think the whole black thing comes from them being seen at night and the grayish/black undertint to their coat. To have an almost black mountain lion seems pretty plausible to me.

And I would bet every penny I've got that the country around Rockne is prime mountain lion habitat. Post oak savannah kind of country, creek bottoms with pecans and hardwoods, prime deer habitat, low population density.

Hey U.guy....when you and I went at this topic a while ago, what conclusion did we come to?

Basically I was trying to say that "Melanistic leopards and jaguars " do exist in in the United States in captivity (fact) and that there is a possibility of one "escaping" and being seen by a person?

You said that if this was the case, that the chance of them mating and overall survival would be slim to none?

Is that about right?

And that probably most sightings are black dogs, melanistic bobcats, jaguarundi, or people imagining things?

Melanistic cougars/mountain lions/panthers/add another synonym here exist as well.

Yep thats why there are so many pictures and hard evidence of such.

I'm with ya.

Isn't albinism more common in animals than melanism? If so, one would surmise that white cougar sightings would be much more common than black (melanistic) panther sightings.

Although albino animals have a pretty tough go surviving in the wild.

I don't know what it was but I know what it wasn't and that's anything OTHER than a big a$$ cat. Thanks for all the black lab suggestions though. Bobcat? Maybe. If there is a huge bobcat with a long a$$ tail out there.

*There has NEVER been a melanistic mountain lion recorded. Yes, albino is more common.

*In the wild, there has NEVER been a melanistic jaguar recorded in Texas. All records of jaguars in Texas are of the spotted variety. The closest a melanistic jaguar has ever even been recorded to the US, was about 300 miles south of the AZ border. All recent jaguar sightings in AZ are of the standard spotted variety. In the wild, melanistic jaguars only make up ~6% of the populations (and it is only that high in the southern portion of it's range).
*In Texas, based purely on the number of "sightings", black panthers should be more common than Cocker spaniels. Why can't we shoot one or get a picture?

Yes, there is a very slight chance that there could be an escaped animal. Another thing, these guys like cattle. There would be definite noticable predation in the area, and the kill isn't real hard to figure out.--We just haven't seen it.

Again, find the picture and send them to the folks I linked earlier.

*My last black panther investigation (that I couldn't get out of) was with a long time rancher/hunter who "knew what he saw". After a bit of tracking (his spot, but definitely canine), was a happy go lucky black lab/pit mix.

[This message has been edited by ursusguy (edited 7/23/2009 2:42p).]

[This message has been edited by ursusguy (edited 7/23/2009 2:45p).]

There's a legend where I'm from (pipe creek area) that a black panther roams the hill country...a school down the road mascot is derived from the story...the 'panthers'

If you find that "black" panther....let the world know...it would be a first for that color!

apparently the one seen in the San Antonio escaped from here...

http://www.wildanimalorphanage.org/

http://www.wildanimalorphanage.org/
This way the link doesn't work. But if you copy and paste it does. Strange

[This message has been edited by tbone421998 (edited 7/23/2009 3:10p).]

www.wildanimalorphanage.org

Nice, it worked

u.guy...so the summary is....

*fact - Melanistic leopards and jaguars go exit in captivity. If you were to see one, you might refer to it as a Black Panther? Can we agree on that?

*fact - none ever recorded in wild in Texas

agree, most sightings are b.s....but....just the slight unrealistic possibility that one escaped and was seen does exist

Personally, no I probably wouldn't refer to it as a black panther. But, I wouldn't have a problem with it if someone did.------But the general arguement comes back to folks ultimately wanting to call a melanistic mountain lion a "black panther", that is my usual point of arguement.

Of course the possibility exists that an escaped animal could be seen, never denied that could happen. Just to date, it has never been a confirmed case of that in Texas (on a large melanistic cat). Lot's of speculation, just never confirmed.----Both of these species are large, it's not hard to find evidence when a critter that large is around

--Except in a very limited range in Texas--not much credibility is given to jaguarundi sightings

[This message has been edited by ursusguy (edited 7/23/2009 3:50p).]

urusguy,

We have a place between Wimberley and Kyle on Lone Man Creek. Last winter at the end of co road, in the turn around there was a dead dear that was obviously killed and eaten. It could not have been run over there since the car could not have had any speed. Who are the culprits likely to be? Bobcats, domestic gone wild dogs, cayotes?

Two, do you ever see any Ring Tailed Cats. About 7 years ago while alone and asleep in our old rock cabin, I woke up to what sounded like a 7 year old boy running accross the tin roof. I went outside and turned on a flood and much to my surprise there were two good sized Ring Tails on the rock chimney looking as if they wanted in. They just looked right back at me and did not seem too disturbed. It was dead winter, pretty chilly out, and dang it I did not have a camera.

http://www.cbsnews.com/blogs/2009/07/22/crimesider/entry5181359.shtml

there were black panthers in texas this week?

geb83, I don't usually like to speculate, especially when it is near a road. Keep in mind, deer will often travel a fair distance before falling (even when smacked by a car). If it was actually a case of predation, I would initially lean towards dogs then coyotes (this will vary by time of the year).

Personally, I've only seen ringtails a few times. Last time was when when I was helping another biologist on deer line. They've never been a species of particular interest to me. Wish I had a better answer for you. They are very nocturnal, and are not particularly rare in Hays county---just not seen much due to behavior.

vetachi-ser definitely confirmed black panthers in Paris

Edited after noticing the really creative grammar

[This message has been edited by ursusguy (edited 7/23/2009 9:30p).]