Are There Any Existing Animals Similar To Bigfoot, In N.a.

[Incorrigible1]

Kudos to DaveBeaty for an excellent posting. Black "panthers," or whatever various people are witnessing are of a particular interest to me. As Mr. Beaty stated in his posting, modern science does not recognize a melanistic mountain lion. Yet dozens, scores, and perhaps hundreds of regular folk have reported sighting them across North America. I find it fascinating, as there is no evidence of their existence. No bodies, no captive/zoo specimens, no reason to believe the creature exists. Except for the myriad reports.

Methinks Mr. Beaty's posting is not what the original poster was looking for, but things are what they are.

[BobZenor]

Homo heidelbergensis is very similar. The immediate ancestor of those hominids logically inhabited the entire world besides possibly the new world. They don't have evidence of him being in North America but if they did, there wouldn't be any need of the rhetorical question, would there?

[Guest Lesmore]

Kudos to DaveBeaty for an excellent posting. Black "panthers," or whatever various people are witnessing are of a particular interest to me. As Mr. Beaty stated in his posting, modern science does not recognize a melanistic mountain lion. Yet dozens, scores, and perhaps hundreds of regular folk have reported sighting them across North America. I find it fascinating, as there is no evidence of their existence. No bodies, no captive/zoo specimens, no reason to believe the creature exists. Except for the myriad reports.

Methinks Mr. Beaty's posting is not what the original poster was looking for, but things are what they are.

Yes you're right, not quite what I was thinking about...mountain lions are not uncommon and like other mammals...occasionally there are examples of different colours...another example would be the American Bison...nowadays there are a good number of these beasts, invariably brown....but on the very rare occasion there will be a white Buffalo....in fact we have one at our zoo.

I'm thinking of unidentified animals...large...that aren't just uncommon variants in colour, of familiar animals.

[Huntster]

I'm thinking of unidentified animals...large...that aren't just uncommon variants in colour, of familiar animals.

But of what legends are made of?

No. You were trying to build a skeptic's argument, and DaveBeaty matched your question. You are now raising the bar, classic for one caught in his denial.

[Guest Lesmore]

But of what legends are made of?

No. You were trying to build a skeptic's argument, and DaveBeaty matched your question. You are now raising the bar, classic for one caught in his denial.

Do you really believe all the stuff you come up with ?

[Huntster]

Do you really believe all the stuff you come up with ?

Yes, key word being believe:

–verb (used without object)

1.to have confidence in the truth, the existence, or the reliability of something, although without absolute proof that one is right in doing so: Only if one believes in something can one act purposefully.

–verb (used with object)

2.to have confidence or faith in the truth of (a positive assertion, story, etc.); give credence to.

3.to have confidence in the assertions of (a person).

4.to have a conviction that (a person or thing) is, has been, or will be engaged in a given action or involved in a given situation: The fugitive is believed to be headed for the Mexican border.

5.to suppose or assume; understand (usually fol. by a noun clause): I believe that he has left town.

[Guest ajciani]

Are there any other animals...similar to Bigfoot.... in North America that like Bigfoot, are:

• Uncommonly rare...
  
• Occasionally photographed...
  
• Rare...
  
• Subject of many stories that are difficult to confirm.
  

I would point out that two of these items are nearly identical.

The first creatures that come to mind are the large black cats, or melanistic cougars. They don't seem to be supper common, they have never been collected, they are occasionally alleged to have been photographed, and there are certainly stories.

Now, if you want to ask about animals that we absolutely know exist, because they have been collected and displayed, but otherwise meet your criteria, then I will give you:

• cougars
  
• wolverines
  
• jaguars
  

There are probably others I can add on, but they don't come to mind straight away.

While cougars might be routinely hunted (with dogs) in some States, their extent as a breeding species is generally considered highly limited, usually only to areas west of the Rockies and Florida. However, wild cougars are routinely reported (and shot) in all 49 continental States. Wildlife officials usually attribute these as escaped animals, but GPS collar tracking studies have been showing that cougars roam over VAST distances. It is now possible to reasonably suspect that a cougar found in Illinois could have roamed in from Canada, as an example. Of course, the wildlife people would still figure the "breeding population" is in Canada, when in fact, it could be everywhere.

One other thing about cougars. They were reported by colonists for many decades, and taken with some amount of incredulity, before a specimen was collected.

Jaguars were thought to be nonexistent in the US, until trail cams in the southwest started snapping photos. The conclusion was that these animals are migrating in from Mexico. The more likely conclusion is that the animals always ranged into the US, but the biologists simply dismissed stories and missed the signs. It's kind of like the ozone hole. There was never a hole in the ozone layer, until we measured it. So despite witness reports, jaguars never existed in the US, until an "official" game cam snapped a pic.

Wolverines are also an interesting tale. Apparently, their range has rapidly expanded; exploded, really. Again, the biologists ignored pretty much everything, until an "official" game cam snapped a pic.

So what will happen when a bigfoot ends up on a slab? Will it be written off as a yeti that someone collected in Tibet and kept as a pet?

[Guest]

On the subject of black panther.. in the past I have heard reference of up to three dark if not melanistic cougar in captivity in Argentina. I never did check on the accuracy of the reference or the status of the individuals or exactly where they were. So who knows. Regarding the claims of black panther, I too have met numerous people who claimed to have seen them. There are melanistic bobcat.. the jags and black leopards could possibly be escapees, or theoretically black jags could make their way up through Mexico but I do not know where consistent populations are or how close they are to the US border. Other species that could be a key would be the jaguarundi.. a smaller cat but some are black in color. No doubt that big black barn cats could be mistaken in the right conditions by some people. Is it possible that there is a correlation between black panthers and sas running on all fours ? The Ozarks have a legend called the howler. It is described as bear-like with a vocalization between that of wolves and elk. There are also references to the idea that perhaps black panthers, if they truly exist, could be a different species of large cat. The only other references I have seen in the past on the subject are descriptions of cougar from the northeast Canada area that are grayer (even a dark gray coloration) that is different then the standard yellow or tawny coloration. Just a late night smear of ideas all at once..

[Guest]

The melanistic cougar deal was bugging me so I spent a little time looking.. found this from bigcatsinBritain.org:

There is no scientific evidence that black pumas exist in their native USA, although many people state that it is exactly that roaming the UK!

Only one picture exists of a so-called black puma which was taken by Miguel Ruiz Herrero in 1959 and was killed in Costa Rica. Although there is some debate wether the dead animal does actually show a complete black puma.

While many sources state that truly melanistic pumas have been reported from South and Central America (all the standard cat books state this: e.g., Guggisberg 1975, Green 1991, Kitchener 1991, Alderton 1993), few provide the details.

Young & Goldman (1946, _The Puma: Mysterious American Cat_) wrote of a definite black puma shot in Brazil in 1843 (though no photos exist). Tom Brakefield (1993, _Big Cats: Kingdom of Might_) had this case in mind when he noted that only one melanistic puma was on record.

[Guest gershake]

 

black panthers, if they truly exist

Since when are black panthers a myth? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_panther

[Incorrigible1]

 Since when are black panthers a myth? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_panther

A myth in North America until a black cougar is proven to exist.

[Guest Greldek]

A myth in North America until a black cougar is proven to exist.

Not true, jaguars exist(ed) in North America and came in a rare black variation. There are some researches saying that jaguars are trying to make a comeback in the southern US. There once were many, but they, as every predator in the US were over hunted, and pushed further south, into Central America.

My example for an animal like bigfoot. Unconfirmed sightings, blurry pictures etc, etc, etc. Is the grizzly bear. Where I live in Montana there are places where grizzly bears are. And Fish and Game and Forest service people will tell you all about them and how to be safe around them. And then there are other wilderness areas, where they say grizzly bears do not exist, and yet they are reported there, and there are fuzzy pictures of them, and reports/claims of seeing grizzly bears.

And time after time the "experts" refuse to believe that the person could have seen a grizzly bear, and say that the eye witness simply mis-identified a black bear. I've even had a FW&G warden tell me, after I told him I've seen a grizzly bear in a particular part of the Selway-Bitteroot wilderness, that if I came to him with a picture of a grizzly bear scratching it's but on a sign post welcoming me into that section of a forest (anyone who's been on wilderness hiking trails knows the signs i'm talking about) he would look me in the eyes, and say there are no grizzly bears in that part of the wilderness.

I'm not saying this proves that there is a bigfoot or not, I'm saying there is a huge animal, that is in part of Montana and the experts will tell you it can't be there, when it is there. And not only that, but they will tell you, they will disregard any proof of this large animal living in the area, and deny it's existence in the area.

(I am guessing this is a policy because that part of the wilderness is accessible from the "bitterroot strip" where they put in huge housing developments in, and grizzly bears scare rich out of staters away.. and you are not allowed to scare the people who bring money in)

[Incorrigible1]

I find it fascinating folks across the USA are reporting seeing "black panthers." If they were seeing jaguars, then they would report also seeing the spotted, far more numerous variation of the species. They're not reporting seeing spotted large cats.

[Guest]

I find it fascinating folks across the USA are reporting seeing "black panthers." If they were seeing jaguars, then they would report also seeing the spotted, far more numerous variation of the species. They're not reporting seeing spotted large cats.

Well that's not true. My friend's mother that lives in northern Arizona walked out on her deck first thing in the morning and surprised two traditionally spotted jaguars eating the dog food. If she saw them, I guess others have to, but is there a database for reports such as that since a jaguar isn't a cryptid? How would you know they aren't being reported?

[Incorrigible1]

Jodie, your friend is making the report from Arizona, a historical haunt of the jaguar. My comment relates to the black panthers reported across the depth and breadth of the USA, far, far north of the historical range of the jaguar.