Merged Alien Big Cats in the UK?

I watched the video on the BBC website. It didn't strike me as being paticularly big. The way it daintly trots along the rail certainly looked more moggie than monster.
 
Dude sounds pretty excited...he couldn't have dubbed in a soundtrack or something?
Eye of the Tiger?
 
While the Moggy Monster theory is attractive, my bets would be on the vid being a moggy of the Siberian Forest Cat, Norwegian Forest Cat or Maine Coon Cat persuasion.
 
Ersby said:
I watched the video on the BBC website. It didn't strike me as being paticularly big. The way it daintly trots along the rail certainly looked more moggie than monster.
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Have to agree - doesn't look that big to me.
 
It's a housecat. People making "alien big cat" claims don't truly understand how large leopards, jaguars and cougars are. The cat in this video also has a walk cadence unlike the real thing. It may be a rather large moggie, but it reveals its height when alongside the rail. Too much of the legs are concealed by the rail when it is briefly walking there. Once the cat has stepped onto the rail, we can see that its legs are not much taller than the rail itself.
 

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The setting is known, so size comparisons could be made on location.
 

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That is, I'm fairly sure, the first time I've ever seen a critical analysis done of anything which included an indication of "Moggie Height"

coffee/monitor
 
ah, I think this is a domestic housecat, but I also think that the UK now has big cats as a native species. This is because I have researched this in depth before.

;)
 
Akhenaten said:
"Touch not the cat bot a glaive"

'tis a quiz! Takers?
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"There's no "fear" in "MacPherson"!"

I have to stay the animal strikes me as a perfectly normal, although large, housecat. It even has that type of behaviour. I don't see it being "over 4' in length" like the one guy claims. It just looks like a big kitty to me.
 
Darat said:
doesn't look that big to me.
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Nor to me. The BBC article quotes Shaun Stevens of the "Big Cats In Britain" group:

"Knowing the width of the rail tracks in Chris's video is 4ft 8.5in, the animal photographed by him is clearly in excess of 4ft and as such is certainly not a domestic cat."​

Hm... almost as long as the width of the rail tracks? Look at the length of the beastie (without the tail) and the apparent width of the tracks:

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Perspective is tricky. In this image, I think the cat is moving more or less perpendicular to the line of sight, so there's no foreshortening. The rails are certainly not perpendicular to the line of sight, so there is some foreshortening (exactly how much, I can't say). I'd estimate the length of the cat to be at most 1/2 the width of the rails.

So here's one more vote for "just a big kitty".
 
Michael C said:
Nor to me. The BBC article quotes Shaun Stevens of the "Big Cats In Britain" group:

"Knowing the width of the rail tracks in Chris's video is 4ft 8.5in, the animal photographed by him is clearly in excess of 4ft and as such is certainly not a domestic cat."​

Hm... almost as long as the width of the rail tracks? Look at the length of the beastie (without the tail) and the apparent width of the tracks:
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cats are usually measured from nose to the tip of the tail,
from wiki
Cats average about 23–25 centimeters (9–10 in) in height[14] and 46 centimeters (18.1 in) in head/body length (males being larger than females), with tails averaging 30 centimeters (11.8 in) in length.[15]
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the longest domestic cat species is the maine coon cat.
the world record holder is 48 inches long
http://www.verismocat.com/htmscripts/leo-guinness.htm

so if its over 3 feet long then it isn't a housecat, you'll need to stop thinking black panther, that is not what the various native big cat societies in the UK are proposing, the current paradigm is a melanistic hybrid of a wild and domestic species.
 
shawmutt said:
Dude sounds pretty excited...he couldn't have dubbed in a soundtrack or something?
Eye of the Tiger?
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Says in the story he had to run to his car to get his camera-phone. And, no, he doesn't sound excited, just winded.
 
Michael C said:
[qimg]http://www.internationalskeptics.com/forums/imagehosting/166124a6f0fb738553.jpg[/qimg]

Perspective is tricky. In this image, I think the cat is moving more or less perpendicular to the line of sight, so there's no foreshortening. The rails are certainly not perpendicular to the line of sight, so there is some foreshortening (exactly how much, I can't say). I'd estimate the length of the cat to be at most 1/2 the width of the rails.

So here's one more vote for "just a big kitty".
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I disagree - it looks quite a bit longer than half the width of the track. I'd say it's more like mummymonkey's estimate of three foot, which would be a very large domestic moggie.



It could be a Scottish Wildcat / domestic cat hybrid, perhaps a Kellas Cat. They can be bigger than either wildcats or domestic cats.
 
The bloke who took the video is reported as commenting that the tail was very long, which is a common comment people make about my Maine Coon cat; his tail looks proportionally much longer than a standard domestic moggy's tail.
 
Looks like a black dog to me. There's nothing in this blurry, distant video that conclusively indicates that it's a cat.
 
Darat said:
The bloke who took the video is reported as commenting that the tail was very long, which is a common comment people make about my Maine Coon cat; his tail looks proportionally much longer than a standard domestic moggy's tail.
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how many jet black maine coon cats do you think there are running around in scotland ?
:D
 
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Akhenaten said:
Awesome. You win 9 internets. :)


Cheers,

Dave
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Yay for me! :D

Must confess though, it's supposed to be the family clan. So it's common knowledge in our family.

I can't see this being a dog, it definitely acts like a cat. It also moves like a cat. A domestic cat.
 
Big Les said:
You were beaten to it, I'm afraid. As was I! A favourite quote of mine.
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(note to self: read all posts more carefully before posting.)



Apology said:
Looks like a black dog to me. There's nothing in this blurry, distant video that conclusively indicates that it's a cat.
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On the video, the animal seems to move more like a cat than a dog, IMO--a bit slinky. The videographer should have thrown a ball of yarn in front of it so we'd be sure.
 
Akhenaten said:
"Touch not the cat bot a glaive"

'tis a quiz! Takers?
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The motto of the Chattan confederation - Clan Chattan (the cat clan). Used by clan MacPherson, clan Mackintosh and the 14 other member clans.
 
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It resembles a black Jaguar.
Cougars although said to have been seen in the melanistic phase, are not actually known to be black.
Here's one at the Exotic Feline Breeding Compound in Rosamond CA.
It LOVES getting a shower or taking a bath in the August heat! :)
The tail is quick long and not tapered to a point, as is the typical house cat.
 

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Let's not forget Occam's Razor.

If you hear the pitty-pat of feline paws, think house cat, not panther.
 
JoeTheJuggler said:
Let's not forget Occam's Razor.

If you hear the pitty-pat of feline paws, think house cat, not panther.
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I thought occams razor is more likely to tell you that if you hear the pitty-pat of feline paws see your doctor, you have developed hyper sensitive hearing
:D
 
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