No, you cannot own a large wild cat in South Carolina. What do they mean by a ‘large wild cat’? They mean these cat species: lions, tigers, leopards, jaguars, cougars, cheetahs, snow leopards, and clouded leopards. The N. Carolina law (see the Federal Big Cat Public Safety Act further down which overlaps with this state …
This is an infographic which summarises albinism in cats. Rarely you will see albino wild and domestic cats. You will see quite a lot of people confusing cats that are completely white with blue eyes or odd-eye colour caused by the dominant white gene and albino cats with light-blue to pink eyes. The eyes are …
People are interested in domestic cat hybrids because they look different. This cat is basically a Maine Coon with curled back ears and some vague pointing on the coat. But when you look at the cat, he/she looks like a strange Maine Coon. The dominant feature is the huge Maine Coon muzzle and then the …
3-way cat hybrid: Maine Coon, American Curl and Siamese Read More »
The question is perhaps a little fanciful because in reality the wolf is dominant over the mountain lion as they are a pack animal. It seems that the wolf drives away the puma as they are outnumbered by a pack of wolves. They scare pumas. Wolves are dominant to pumas in most encounters as revealed …
In a videoed podcast, Mike Tyson – puffing away on a spliff and clearly high to a certain extent – discussed what it was like to live with three tigers and then a mountain lion. His interviewers were also on cannabis. He doesn’t like talking about himself because it makes him feel uneasy. And he …
Mike Tyson on insights into living with tigers and mountain lions Read More »
Gavin Mayo on Twitter said: “I spent $500k on a baby tiger today. We are not the same”. Here is the video accompanying those words. So, what do you think? Stupid show off unconcerned or too ignorant to realise that his very expensive tiger cub came from somewhere. What about the tigress-to-cub bond? That’s been …
Yes, is the very positive answer to the question above because mountain lions (pumas) ‘kill and eat prey ranging in size from mice to moose’ (Sunquists in Wild Cats of the World). And why? Because they can’t afford to be picky unlike our darling domestic cats who have all the food they need supplied on …
Dwight Ward contacted me by email with his story of the sighting of a melanistic (black) mountain lion in Utah while he was hiking across the country. It was back in 1972. I think his story is worth publishing here because it’s a rare one. For those who are interested, I have a page on …
Black mountain lion sighting off interstate 70 in Utah Read More »
There is only one large wild cat species that can both purr and meow, and of course, produce a wide range of sounds both for short range and long-range communication and this is the well-known puma a.k.a. the mountain lion or cougar. This is the cat with the most names and the cat with the …
What is the biggest cat that can purr and meow (infographic)? Read More »
Here are two pictures of muscular pumas and when I saw them, particularly the first one, I was taken aback somewhat because I am one of those people who think of pumas as bearing a closer resemblance to cheetahs than the other big cats such as the lion. The puma is a member of the …
A 2002 book on the wild cats tells me that “like most felids, pumas live alone, and apart from associations for mating purposes the only prolonged contact is between females and their kittens” (Wild Cats of the World page 260). That opening sentence on the social organisation of the puma a.k.a. mountain lion appears, now, …
Note: this page has been updated as at Sept 15th, 2022 and republished (see update below). Are there mountain lions in Texas? Well, yes but what with continual human population growth, increased human activity (including road building), the horrible practice of sport hunting and decreased mountain lion habitat, I am sometimes surprised. That said, the …
The ‘experts’ don’t know exactly how many mountain lions are in California but they can make a decent guesstimate. That is the truth of it and I don’t like to see websites, sometimes ostensibly authoritative websites, simply copying what other websites state and presenting it as the gospel truth. The numbers in the spreadsheet below …
No, mountain lions are not lions. Mountain lions are pumas, if you want to use the proper name. The scientific name is Puma concolor. In North America the name “puma” is commonly used among the scientific community but cougar and mountain now appear to be more common with the general public. However, the mountain lion …
by Carey Boyce (Central Oregon) Jemez River, NM 1995 While fly-fishing on the Jemez River in New Mexico, I entered the river’s narrow canyon and headed upstream. In actuality, this canyon is known as a lava cistern cut into the earth thousands of years ago by volcanic flow. It was no more than twenty-five feet …
