I came a cross a “Youtube” video that suggests a cougar in my area. I know the video is old, but I have always wondered if it was really a cougar, as it is hard to tell. I didn’t post this on “Inaturalist” because the video is not my own, so therefore it is not my observation. I would highly appreci…

This looks like a domestic cat to me. In my experience cougars near people are far more alert.This cat is far more interested in what is near to its feet. Nothing suggests it is a cougar.

I highly doubt it. I don’t believe they are that far south. I lived in the Novi Michigan area for decades hearing the sightings of cougars. However there are cougars in northern Michigan. It took years of sightings ( and scat hunts) before the DNR agreed.

The body proportions and behavior all indicate housecat. I’ve reviewed videos and still photos like this before and it’s interesting how, without good reference points in the image to determine size, they are often assumed to be a much larger cat such as a cougar. Many alleged black panthers in th…

Thank you for the input everyone! I highly appreciate it, as I had no clue before this post. It takes a lot of expertise to notice little hints that it is not a cougar, and I don’t have enough knowledge to tell the difference!

If you’re on facebook you can join track identification group of @beartracker “Animals Don’t Cover Their Tracks”, apparently it’s a very common topic, so there’re many posts with photo comparisons and descriptions, so you can check them out!

until it is. this one, though, is unquestionably an orange housecat. even with the terrible footage.

Yeah, I don’t know what the people in the Youtube comments are on about. That’s a housecat. Possibly a big housecat, but it’s a housecat.

Is it a Cougar?

Nature Talk

mamestraconfigurata March 21, 2022, 12:17am 12

I know that there have been cougar sightings in Manitoba (Northern Southern Manitoba?), and perhaps the Boreal Forest area of Ontario. They seem to be rare, and elusive. Since I have never seen one, I yield to the information supplied above

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Is it a Cougar?

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