Sunday, December 7, 2008

Black Cougar


My son Jack and I saw a black mountain lion up in Prescott last weekend. It was as large as a big german shepard and was sitting on a rock just outside my parent's fence line. It jumped down and sauntered off when we spotted him. My dad has seen the tracks around his house, but I have never seen a mountain lion before. I wanted him to call game and fish, but I don't think he thinks it is necessary. Hope he doesn't become lion food! (BTW -This is just a picture from the Internet, I didn't have my camera in hand...)

5 comments:

ellespot said...

mountain lions dont come in black colour, you may have seen an escaped pet leopard or even better a wild black jaguar which is incredible. if you live in the south west or border the gulf you should report it. Very endangered.

LaVonne said...

Mountain Lions actually do come in black, but they are rare. If what you saw was a black mountain lion, you're lucky!
I saw a black "thing" slinking through the grass here in Montana and my first thought was, that's crazy, we don't have jaguars here! lol I didn't have my glasses on, so I will never know what it was!

Unknown said...

There are black cats out there you have to get off the couch and off of cell phone to see one.

Anonymous said...

In fact, the scientific name of the cougar is Puma Concolor, a name that combines the Peruvian word with a Latin word meaning “of one color.”

Anonymous said...

In mountain lions, however, melanism is extremely rare, with no confirmed cases documented by science. The genetic makeup of mountain lions is distinct from that of leopards and jaguars, and the specific mutation responsible for melanism in these other species has not been observed in mountain lion populations.

While there are numerous reports and anecdotal evidence suggesting the existence of black mountain lions, these sightings are often attributed to misidentification, lighting conditions, or the spreading of folklore.