Related Research Articles
Phantom cats, also known as alien big cats (ABCs), are large felids which allegedly appear in regions outside their indigenous range. Sightings, tracks, and predation have been reported in a number of countries including Australia, Canada, China, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Great Britain, Ireland, India, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, New Zealand, Spain, Switzerland, and the United States. When confirmed, they are typically explained as exotic pets or escapees from private zoos.
The cougar, also known as the panther, mountain lion, catamount and puma, is a large cat native to the Americas. It inhabits North, Central and South America, making it the most widely distributed wild, terrestrial mammal in the Western Hemisphere, and one of the most widespread in the world. Its range spans the Canadian Territory of Yukon, British Columbia and Alberta provinces, the Rocky Mountains and areas in the Western United States. Further south, its range extends through Mexico to the Amazon Rainforest and the southern Andes Mountains in Patagonia. It is an adaptable, generalist species, occurring in most American habitat types. It prefers habitats with dense underbrush and rocky areas for stalking but also lives in open areas.
Rottnest Island, often colloquially referred to as "Rotto", is a 19-square-kilometre (7.3 sq mi) island off the coast of Western Australia, located 18 kilometres (11 mi) west of Fremantle. A sandy, low-lying island formed on a base of aeolianite limestone, Rottnest is an A-class reserve, the highest level of protection afforded to public land.
A feral animal or plant is one that lives in the wild but is descended from domesticated individuals. As with an introduced species, the introduction of feral animals or plants to non-native regions may disrupt ecosystems and has, in some cases, contributed to extinction of indigenous species. The removal of feral species is a major focus of island restoration.
A feral cat or a stray cat is an unowned domestic cat that lives outdoors and avoids human contact; it does not allow itself to be handled or touched, and usually remains hidden from humans. Feral cats may breed over dozens of generations and become an aggressive local apex predator in urban, savannah and bushland environments. Some feral cats may become more comfortable with people who regularly feed them, but even with long-term attempts at socialization, they usually remain aloof and are most active after dusk. Of the 700 million cats in the world, an estimated 480 million are feral.
The woylie or brush-tailed bettong is a small, critically endangered mammal native to forests and shrubland of Australia. A member of the rat-kangaroo family (Potoroidae), it moves by hopping and is active at night, digging for fungi to eat. It is also a marsupial and carries its young in a pouch. Once widespread, the woylie mostly died out from habitat loss and introduced predators such as foxes. It is currently restricted to two small areas in Western Australia. There were two subspecies: B. p. ogilbyi in the west, and the now-extinct B. p. penicillata in the southeast.
Lion taming is the taming and training of lions, either for protection or for use in entertainment, such as the circus. The term often applies to the taming and display of lions and other big cats such as tigers, leopards, jaguars, black panthers, cheetahs, and cougars. People often use lion taming as a metaphor for any dangerous activity. Lion taming occurs in zoos around the world to enable the keepers to carry out medical procedures and feedings.
In Australian folklore, the Blue Mountains panther or Lithgow panther is a big cat said to exist by residents of the Blue Mountains area, west of Sydney, Australia, for over a century.
A semi-feral animal lives predominantly in a feral state but has some contact and experience with humans. This may be because it was born in a domesticated state and then reverted to life in wild conditions, or it may be an animal that grew up in essentially wild conditions but has developed a comfort level with humans through feeding, receiving medical care, or similar contacts.
The kultarr is a small insectivorous nocturnal marsupial inhabiting the arid interior of Australia. Preferred habitat includes stony deserts, shrubland, woodland, grassland and open plains. The kultarr has a range of adaptations to help cope with Australia's harsh arid environment including torpor similar to hibernation that helps conserve energy. The species has declined across its former range since European settlement due to changes in land management practices and introduced predators.
In Australian folklore, the Queensland tiger is a creature said to live in the Queensland area in eastern Australia.
In British folklore and urban legend, British big cats refers to the subject of reported sightings of non-native, typically large felids feral in the United Kingdom. Many of these creatures have been described as "panthers", "pumas" or "black cats".
The North American cougar is a cougar subspecies in North America. It is the biggest cat in North America. It was once common in eastern North America and is still prevalent in the western half of the continent. This subspecies includes populations in western Canada, the western United States, Florida, Mexico and Central America, and possibly South America northwest of the Andes Mountains. It thus includes the extirpated eastern cougar and extant Florida panther populations.
The Feral Brewing Company is a brewery in the Swan Valley, Western Australia.
The eastern cougar or eastern puma is a subspecies designation proposed in 1946 for cougar populations in eastern North America. The subspecies as described in 1946 was declared extinct by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in 2011. However, the 1946 taxonomy is now in question. The Canadian Wildlife Service has taken no position on the taxonomy. Cougars are currently common in western North America and may be expanding their range. Individuals are occasionally seen as vagrants in eastern North America.
A free-ranging dog is a dog that is not confined to a yard or house. Free-ranging dogs include street dogs, village dogs, stray dogs, feral dogs, etc., and may be owned or unowned. The global dog population is estimated to be 900 million, of which around 20% are regarded as owned pets and therefore restrained.
Many different species of mammal can be classified as cats (felids) in the United States. These include domestic cat, of the species Felis catus; medium-sized wild cats from the genus Lynx; and big cats from the genera Puma and Panthera. Domestic cats vastly outnumber wild cats in the United States.
Cats are a popular pet in New Zealand. Cat ownership is occasionally raised as a controversial conservation issue due to the predation of endangered species, such as birds and lizards, by feral cats.
Cats are an invasive species in Australia. Because they are not native to Australia and were only introduced by European colonists as pets in the early 1800s, native Australian animals did not co-evolve with them. As of 2016, some 3.8 million domestic cats and up to 6.3 million feral cats continue to live in Australia.
Ferries McDonald Conservation Park is a protected area in the Australian state of South Australia located in the gazetted locality of Monarto South about 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) south-west of Murray Bridge. It covers an area of 845 hectares and provides a habitat for a range of native and endangered species. It is one of a number of protected patches of remnant mallee bushland within the region. Conservation organisations are now attempting to restore and connect these patches of the fragmented Murray plains in an attempt to heighten the prospects of various rare and endangered species.
References
- 1 2 Long, J. L. (1988). Introduced birds and mammals in Western Australia (2nd ed.). Agriculture Protection Board of Western Australia.
- ↑ "First catch your cougar (22 May 1979)", The Bulletin, 100 (5161), John Haynes and J.F. Archibald: 124, 1979-05-22, ISSN 0007-4039
- ↑ Interview with Arnold Meredith, cousin of John Meredith and farmer in the Lake Grace and Boyup Brook regions, W.A. Meredith speaks of pioneering at Lake Grace, W.A. in a low rainfall district, settling and shearing activities, stories about the mysterious Coedering Cougars; Recorded on Sept. 9, 1991.http://trove.nla.gov.au/work/9153126
- ↑ "WILD CATS". The Register (Adelaide) . Vol. LXXIX, no. 20, 961. South Australia. 16 January 1914. p. 6. Retrieved 9 August 2024– via National Library of Australia.
- ↑ Smith, Nicholas (1999-12-01), "The Howl and the Pussy: Feral Cats and Wild Dogs in the Australian Imagination", The Australian Journal of Anthropology, 10 (3), Australian Anthropological Society: 288–305, doi:10.1111/j.1835-9310.1999.tb00026.x, ISSN 1035-8811
- ↑ Western Australia. Agriculture Protection Board. Services Branch (1978), Stray and feral cats : summary of a meeting on stray and feral cats held at Perth, February 21, 1978, Services Branch, Agriculture Protection Board, ISBN 978-0-7244-7882-8
- ↑ "Resident sightings point to presence of big cats like panthers, cougars in Perth hills". Hills Gazette. 25 January 2018. Retrieved 3 February 2018.