Lynx:
48 – 56 cm at the shoulder
Bobcat:
30 to 60 cm at the shoulder
Cougar
120 to 150 cm at the shoulder
Posted on 03/12/2014 12:18:43 PM PDT by Theoria
A woman’s photograph of a big cat roaming the snowy woods near her mother’s home in a sleepy central Connecticut town has some convinced it’s a mountain lion — despite environmental officials’ assertion that cougars are extinct in the state.
Caitlin Handley posted the photograph on Durham-Middlefield Patch on March 6 under her mother Linda’s name, warning residents to keep their pets inside, and soon received a dozen comments from folks who surmised it was a bobcat.
“It was approximately 10 in the morning when I saw it,” Handley says. “I believe the animal was actually bigger than the picture shows. We have two fully grown Labrador retrievers and it was definitely bigger than they are. The dogs were barking like crazy when they first spotted it and I was shocked at first to see such a large strange animal in my backyard.
“I was also confused to exactly what it was. I immediately took a picture with my iPhone and ran to get my camera with a better zoom but by the time I made it back downstairs, the animal was running away.”
As it ran away, Handley says, she saw it was “very muscular” and although her iPhone photo doesn’t show it, the cat had a long tail.
She immediately went online to look at photographs of mountain lions to corroborate her gut feeling, Handley says.
“It definitely looked like the mountain lion pictures and not a bobcat or something similar.”
The day after Handley posted her photo on Patch, state Rep. Matthew Lesser, who used to represent Durham, Middlefield and Rockfall before redistricting, shared the post on his Facebook page asking wildlife experts what they thought.
(Excerpt) Read more at middletownpress.com ...
48 – 56 cm at the shoulder
30 to 60 cm at the shoulder
120 to 150 cm at the shoulder
Dunno... can't tell from this distance.
ROTFLMAO !
That cougar can maul me anytime!
If this is a mountain lion, where is its tail?
Well done !!
LOL !!!
We kept having sightings in our state of mountain lions but were told they were bobcats. Then a mountain lion got hit by a car.
Cougars, mountain lions have good tails ... these pics show no tail ... but that is an aweful big thing for a bobcat.
Size and shape of head,is lion, tail could between legs or to the side, they are just a larger animal, and their stance is different.
Several years ago my Great Dane pulled a critter out of a tree and killed it. It was about three feet long, plus tail. I picked it up and estimate it weighed 40-50 pounds. The dogs took off with it before I could get a picture. I looked on the internet and decided it was some kind of marten. Problem, this is Alabama. The wild life guy I talked to assured me it was a mink, not a marten. I’ve seen mink and this was no mink.
There are more and more sightings of stuff that does live here. Bears, cougars, black panthers, martens and lord know what all.
No tail and it has facial tufts - bobcat.
Wildlife deniers are everywhere.
Clearly a bobcat as there is no tail and the shape of the nape of the neck makes it a Bobcat. Do I win?
‘Handley says, she saw it was “very muscular” and although her iPhone photo doesn’t show it, the cat had a long tail.’
I was wondering that after I posted.
Wompus Cat if I ever saw one.
From those photos, looks like a Bobcat.
Online sources say a bobcat averages 19 - 23lbs and that the largest ever recorded was 49 pounds. Bobcats average 24 inches in length.
I don’t believe that is a bobcat in the picture. The size and the silhouette are not bobcat. In this video - pics of bobcats followed by pics of cougar https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L1AL3RDT0zE
At the 1:19 mark is a cougar with the silhouette of the animal in the picture. The bobcats are boxy and furry enough to look cute and obscure musculature. But the cougar has more contours. I think the animal may be carrying something - read about a guy who created an optical device to detect whether or not his cat, returning through the cat door at night, had mice or other dead animals in his mouth. He created a sensor that would not open the cat door unless the cat’s head profile fit within a certain range (no dead animals). He stopped finding dead animals in his house but would find them deposited just outside the cat door.
So I think the animal is a cougar which may or may not be carrying something.
You have been waiting for this thread for a while, huh? :)
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