MS, I know I laugh when I think about growing up in Southern Calif and never seeing the variety of animals I see here in AZ.
Daily Kitten Chat Forum » General Chat
Need help identifying wild big cat I saw
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Posted 2 years ago by AZDEBRA 5/27 & crew #
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Deb my Grandma lives right outside Tucson and she has a mountain lion that has more than once sat on her back porch. Comes down from the mountain and seems to sit there. She has also had javalinas too. You are right--there is a bunch of wildlife in AZ! And some beautiful land!! I love Mt. Lemmon. My dream is to have a cabin there to become a hermit in!
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Thanks fro your suggestions everyone. J-man and I have checked out so many big cats online. Unfortunately he didn't see it as I was biking in front of him and it was gone by the time he was next to me.
I have come to two possibilities.
1: A very tan coloured bobcat that didn't have markings or very faint ones.
2: a Mountain lion (the pictures looked like just what i saw) that for some reason has had it's tail amputated and is very short.Either way they're supposedly unlikely to attack and a personal high pitched alarm should scare them off, but I'm not going back into that park without J-man. The park is in town too.
Yes MS, there was a sighting of a bobcat when we first arrived but it was a month before we arrive and someone had seen it on their patio in our community. We're on the second floor :)
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http://sweetmagnoliaphoto.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2008/05/florida_panther_with_cub.jpg
look what's in my backyard in Fla!.... talk about BIG cats!!!!!
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Oh AV those are beautiful.
I think it was a bobcat. Maybe it's a Texas thing but my nephew's cousin has 2 of them. They are very friendly and like regular house kitties. I have even rolled around with them and hugged them on occassion.
I wouldn't want one of them to get mad at me though.
Posted 2 years ago by HuddysMama #
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I just looked up Wetas. Yuk!
Posted 2 years ago by Pollys_Mum_in_UK_2605 #
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From the size you say it was, I think it more likely a bobcat. I've seen a wild mountain lion out in the Sierra Nevada mountains in Yosemite National Park and it is considerably larger than two to three times the size of a domestic housecat. With only a brief glimpse of its retreating rear end in the lighting of going into bushes, it would be easy to miss seeing markings. The heavy hind quarters, short tail, and black tipped tail and ears are very much what a bobcat looks like. There are both bobcats and pumas at the zoo here and you've described what sounds like a bobcat.
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Airyshone, If you were in or around Turtle Rock or Quail Creek, it was most likely a bobcat. They don't show quite as many dark spots in this area, probably because the dried vegetation is so yellowish.
The only other naturally occurring big wild cat you would be likely to see here is a puma (AKA: cougar, catamount or mountain lion) are they are pretty hard to misidentify.
Jaguarundi have long since gone from this area; margay haven't been seen in CA for decades, ditto jaguars; sometimes you can see fishers (martens) in WA or OR, but I never heard of one in CA. There aren't really any other big cats native to this side of Northern America.
I'm pretty sure you would know a coyote if you saw one so I'm voting for you saw a bobcat.
Posted 2 years ago by CheetahBoysmommy #
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Thanks CBM. We're tending to agree now that's it was a bobcat. We were next to turtle rock so bobcats are definitely in the area.
Still pretty awesome to see. After my initial fear had abated and we had moved further away from the park I was more in awe at it.
Wild pig is nothing compared to it. At least a wild pig is more scared of you than you of it.
And wetas, they look so ugly and creepy but once you get used tot he tickle of them crawling on you they are really cute :) -
Airyshone, did you know there are probably the Ameerican version of the Weta in the same type of places you saw the Bobcat? The sandcricket.
Posted 2 years ago by paulajeanne #
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I love bobcats some are very dark or light in coloring and hind legs like a bunny hehhe as i call it and the tial is short to hock length and usually white on the underside. I remember the first time I saw a bobcat. I wanted to go pick it up cuddle it and take it home ahhaha. I was 8 years old and parents said no! We were camping hehehe.
Posted 2 years ago by Momma to 2 MaineCoons #
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