I have been talking to someone that insists they have seen a black cougar in the Great Smoky Mountains of Tennessee. I have shown them pictures of Bobcats, which are native to the area, but they claim it is too small, and that the face perfectly matched a cougar. They said that it was certainly not a domestic cat as well. Apparently, it was foggy at the time of the observation and the cat was staring from the bush, so they said it may not have been black, as a result of the fog. Could it have been a cougar, or is there another cat species it could have been?
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There are no black Cougars and Cougars have not existed in Tennessee for a long time (they did historically occur there). Cougars are known for wandering long distances, however, so while a Cougar in Tennessee is highly unlikely it isn’t impossible.
However, I am basically 100% certain the animal seen was a Domestic Cat. Size can be hard to judge in the field (especially in the fog) and it seems this person doesn’t know wildlife that well, so they may just be believing what they want to believe. I know someone who doesn’t know animals that well that caught a great, clear as day photo of a Bobcat on their trail cam and refuses to believe it’s anything but a Cougar, despite the pointed ears, short tail, and spots.
Also, Feral Cats growing to Cougar size is not unheard of, even if it is rare.
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I’ve dealt with some reports of black cats (or black panthers) from the public. There is no evidence of melanism in any cougar populations so the idea that there are black cougars running around parts of North America is unsupported. Similarly, the black morph of jaguar does not occur farther north than southern Mexico. I have reviewed photos and videos of alleged black panthers in my area (SW U.S.) and remarkably they were identifiable – based on body proportions and surrounding vegetation – as black housecats that were misinterpreted by the observer as bigger than they really were.
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Is there any proof of this? It’s quite a claim to make and I’ve never seen it corroborated anywhere.
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What an interesting discussion thread. Cougars are known to range a thousand miles or more. American Scientific published a telling piece on the subject of the migrating cats - Cougars Are Returning to the U.S. Midwest after More Than 100 Years * By John R. Platt on June 14, 2012, from which I gleaned this quote: “The recolonization of former range by cougars is one of the most significant changes in the wildlife landscape of the U.S. in the last few decades,” says Howard Quigley, Teton Cougar Project director and executive director of jaguar programs for Panthera. I have heard mountain folk tell of encounters in the West Virginia mountains as far east as the Virginia Appalachian plateau. Keep your eyes open! What an exciting time to be alive.
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There are consistent stories of black panthers in the Appalachians, with plenty of bogus social media posts. Some of them are obviously bad game cam pics of regular-sized feral house cats. I would ask them for the receipts or change the topic of conversation with them!
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I recall seeing an article or video of state wildlife biologists in Tennessee who had a plywood cut-out of the life-size silhouette of a cougar that they would take to locations where alleged black panthers were spotted and use it to show an observer how an animal’s size can be misinterpreted from a distance. Apparently a number of sightings of black panthers – which are pretty commonly reported in many states – are based on sightings of housecats. The other possibility is the sighting is indeed of a cougar but under poor light conditions, making it look black. Regardless, the black panther is an enduring myth in North America.
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No. There are no “black cougars” in the GSMNP.
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At least some cougar sightings in the eastern US are escaped pets, as well. (The one I always remember reading about involved the head of the Illinois Dept. of Natural Resources, I think, and a cougar that walked out of the brush, up to him, and proceeded to rub against his legs like an overgrown house cat.)
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Of course, the article you cite shows no picture …
And if this story was accurate, surely it would have been mentioned more widely in the media and scientific literature?
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Reminds me of the African Serval that was wandering around near Santa Fe, NM a few years ago and was observed and photo’d by many. Presumably an escaped illegal pet. It was captured in a bear trap baited with a rotisserie chicken and sent to a local zoo.
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This cat has been referenced in literature and the tail is on display in an Australian museum. Unusually large feral cats that aren’t quite as large but still bigger than any house cats are common in many parts of Australia.
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Fishers are another species that regularly gets misinterpreted as a “black panther” in the eastern USA. Dark, long tail, bigger than most housecats, relatively short ears and snout, somewhat elusive forest dweller.
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I will definitely try to find out if it could have been a domestic cat, or a fisher like “tristanmcknight” suggested. Thank you for all of the help everyone, and I will keep you posted on if I can figure out what my friend saw!
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“Black” and “Great Smoky Mountains” makes me immediately think of black bears - they are plentiful in this area and love to climb trees, but I’m not sure how likely one would be to mistake them for large cats. I guess it would have to be very foggy for that.
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Nice reference! I encountered a Fisher while in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. I had never encountered the animal previously or known of its existence, being a resident of rural Mid-Atlantic. My first thought was that it may be a feral cat but the tail, the way it moved, and its size left me with doubts and piqued my curiosity. Upon talking with the locals there was an overwhelming consensus that what I saw was a Fisher. I compared photographs on the internet and am fully convinced that what I saw was indeed Pekania pennanti. Thanks for that memory!
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Would you be able to point me to such an example?
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Thank you to everyone for all of the help! In the end, it is believed that they probably saw a bobcat, although they said it possibly could have been a black bear. Since there is no evidence, we will never know for sure, but at least now we know that it was probably a bobcat or bear, and not a “black cougar”!
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Housecats NEVER grow to the size of cougars. That is an unsubstantiated and ridiculous claim.
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