Art Eatman
Moderator In Memoriam
Note that I have not at all claimed "black panther" of the sort exemplified by Kipling's "Bagheera". I would doubt the existence of such except on some sort of uber-extreme rarity. But a high-melanin brown if seen at night could readily elicit a description of "black panther".
FWIW, back some 35 or 40 years ago, the YO Ranch near Kerrville had (IIRC) four cougars and three jaguars in cages behind the foreman's house. Bobby Snow's wife's "pets". I never heard the origin of the jaguars.
While they hunt best at night, due to superior night vision, they'll wander around in daytime. A fair number of daylight sightings around here, with a cougar "just wandering along".
Heck, I was sitting here at my computer around 3PM one day and a bobcat ambled casually across my front porch...
FWIW, back some 35 or 40 years ago, the YO Ranch near Kerrville had (IIRC) four cougars and three jaguars in cages behind the foreman's house. Bobby Snow's wife's "pets". I never heard the origin of the jaguars.
While they hunt best at night, due to superior night vision, they'll wander around in daytime. A fair number of daylight sightings around here, with a cougar "just wandering along".
Heck, I was sitting here at my computer around 3PM one day and a bobcat ambled casually across my front porch...