Otway Panther Photographed

That's, er, a cat.

Are the big cats and domestic housecats similar enough in physiology that, absent any indications of scale, there'd be no way to tell the difference? Or are there physiological differences you could notice if they were running/jumping etc.
 
I've unfortunately not seen a puma/cougar/catamount/panther/mountain lion in the wild, but it appears from the pictures that they have rather larger bodies relative to either legs or heads than house cats, and longer snouts. It is true that, with untufted ears and full tails, they're closer to house cats than the other wild cats we see around here, but I think you'd have to be pretty optimistic to think it's a rare variant of a species not proven to be around, rather than a very big black feral cat in a place where there actually is reliable evidence that very big black feral cats do occur.
 
Jim_MDP said:
D'ya ever wonder why there are no hurricanes in the Pacific... only cyclones?
Hmmm.


[emoji1]
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Off topic nitpick: Tropical Cyclones are called "hurricane" anywhere in the Western Hemisphere, including the eastern Pacific. My wife and I experience the tail end of Hurricane Norman in Los Angeles on our honeymoon in 1978.

And in the western Pacific they are "typhoons".
 
This is perfect.

self-debunking said:
"It was jet black, it had a really long sleek back, it wasn't tall looking at the photos but when it was sitting on the side of the road it certainly looked a lot taller."
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Another interpretation: She convinced herself it was huge; took photos and it was not huge.
 
I'm confused

3point14 said:
That's, er, a cat.

Are the big cats and domestic housecats similar enough in physiology that, absent any indications of scale, there'd be no way to tell the difference? Or are there physiological differences you could notice if they were running/jumping etc.
Click to expand...

CORed said:
There's really not enough reference points in that photo to make a good estimate of size. Of course, nothing bigger than a domestic cat is likely to be roaming around in Australia.
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Look at the background of the photo, the yellow flowers and the grass, the reference scale seems to be right there for me, hence my first post saying the buttercups must be massive.
The cat isn't.
 
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