Big cats UK

[forest of dean redneck 11,770]

On 02/12/2023 at 11:50, Greyman said:

It is a collar mate on a black leopard, I use it to show how hard it is to tell the difference  there are pics on the podcast of the Devon one with roe deer overlaid to show the size of it the bloke caught that pic on a brand new trail cam first time he used it lol 

Is it a leopard ? I would said it was a feral /kellas type but I did see what looks like a collar.

[Greyman 29,265]

13 minutes ago, forest of dean redneck said:

Is it a leopard ? I would said it was a feral /kellas type but I did see what looks like a collar.

She,s quite a well known leopard on YouTube mate 

[forest of dean redneck 11,770]

3 minutes ago, Greyman said:

She,s quite a well known leopard on YouTube mate 

Oh yes I’ve seen the one with rotty just goes to show how deceiving photos are

[comanche 3,090]

On 02/12/2023 at 11:50, Greyman said:

It is a collar mate on a black leopard, I use it to show how hard it is to tell the difference  there are pics on the podcast of the Devon one with roe deer overlaid to show the size of it the bloke caught that pic on a brand new trail cam first time he used it lol 

The one on the snow looks nothing like a domestic cat to me .

I'm curious about the cat caught on the new trail cam. Was that the only picture? Or the best picture?

From the position it's in it looks like it had already possibly past closer to the camera and might've  afforded a better picture. That is of course if the camera had been set to take a series of shots . Which l think is what most people with trail cams do.

I'm not knocking the big cat thing by the way ;l find it interesting. 

As to that road casualty Kellas cat ; a 90 cm body is truly impressive! Unless it had been squished out a bit by being run over of course.

What was it with the tail ?  Could we be talking something like 140cm - four and a half feet- or more!

Never having heard of them I had to look up Kellas cats. Trusting Google can be dodgy but l learned they are just a mongrel between two forms  of the same species. And they are named after a Scottish village. 

Maybe they are big through natural selection that makes Northern forms bigger than Southern forms of the same species due to the heat retention and energy balance and prey-type equation . 

Are only the very  noticeable  black form  called Kellos or are there some equally butch but less strikingly coloured moggies of the same type that qualify as well? 

 

[Gilbey 1,478]

I watched that video of the roadkill cat when it first went on youtube, it's a big sturdy cat, but imo it's nowhere near that length, watch it and take note of the kerb stones etc 

[keepdiggin 9,561]

The feral cats in Australia I read some where are reaching huge sizes 

 

[Greyman 29,265]

The fella that does the scaling is a retired draftsman and by actually measuring the curb stones was able to calculate the size, I don’t pretend to understand That’s not my part in the puzzle but I trust his judgment 

[shaaark 10,935]

3 hours ago, keepdiggin said:

The feral cats in Australia I read some where are reaching huge sizes 

 

I'm wondering exactly why that is.  Feral cats in general, don't really get much bigger than your normal moggy, I know there are exceptions, trapped and killed many of them years ago.  But not the supposed size of some of these Australian ferals.

[gnipper 6,564]

26 minutes ago, shaaark said:

I'm wondering exactly why that is.  Feral cats in general, don't really get much bigger than your normal moggy, I know there are exceptions, trapped and killed many of them years ago.  But not the supposed size of some of these Australian ferals.

Strongest survive and breed so they'll be getting bigger like selective domestic breeding has got us things like ragdolls. They won't be getting leopard size though. 

[comanche 3,090]

9 hours ago, Greyman said:

The fella that does the scaling is a retired draftsman and by actually measuring the curb stones was able to calculate the size, I don’t pretend to understand That’s not my part in the puzzle but I trust his judgment 

So it wasn't  actually measured?  

Just estimated from a bad picture ?  

And is there a hint of photo repair?

It's   a pity. 

Edited December 5, 2023 by comanche

[comanche 3,090]

10 hours ago, Gilbey said:

I watched that video of the roadkill cat when it first went on youtube, it's a big sturdy cat, but imo it's nowhere near that length, watch it and take note of the kerb stones etc 

Were there images of it laid out properly next to a tape measure? That's  surely one of the first things any one would do if they found a four and a half foot cat!

Another would be to send it to the Natural History museum for confirmation . 

Certainly if you look at the perspective of the picture  there is nothing to support it being the claimed size..  

Also having read a bit more ,the Kellas cat thing looks a bit overblown  . Basically they are just a mongrel Wildcat     that favour the black gene and - claimed monster road kill aside- are no bigger than a  Wildcat.

I would imagine such crosses have been occurring for centuries but the black ones get the publicity.

Edited December 5, 2023 by comanche

[Gilbey 1,478]

6 hours ago, comanche said:

Were there images of it laid out properly next to a tape measure? That's  surely one of the first things any one would do if they found a four and a half foot cat!

Another would be to send it to the Natural History museum for confirmation . 

Certainly if you look at the perspective of the picture  there is nothing to support it being the claimed size..  

Also having read a bit more ,the Kellas cat thing looks a bit overblown  . Basically they are just a mongrel Wildcat     that favour the black gene and - claimed monster road kill aside- are no bigger than a  Wildcat.

I would imagine such crosses have been occurring for centuries but the black ones get the publicity.

Of course not lol. It's a video, when he's standing away from it you can tell its proper size imo, but don't take my word watch it he's called 'Ac coming back to life' or similar.

Pure wildcats are rare, crossing with moggies is their biggest threat. Folk are trapping the crosses and neutering them

[mackem 27,843]

46 minutes ago, Gilbey said:

Of course not lol. It's a video, when he's standing away from it you can tell its proper size imo, but don't take my word watch it he's called 'Ac coming back to life' or similar.

Going to watch this after breakfast,in the first minute the chap said it’s the first confirmed uk black leopard roadkill?

 

[Greyman 29,265]

36 minutes ago, mackem said:

Going to watch this after breakfast,in the first minute the chap said it’s the first confirmed uk black leopard roadkill?

 

It definitely isn’t a leopard 100% the body was taken away by council again and denied it had ever happened but they left enough fragments on the verge to get a dna, result which showed 50/50 wildcat and domestic, 

[comanche 3,090]

3 hours ago, mackem said:

Going to watch this after breakfast,in the first minute the chap said it’s the first confirmed uk black leopard roadkill?

 

Mm. The guy spends the video walking along roadsides   waving a tape measure   yet when the black mog is pictured the tape is seemingly unavailable. 

Perhaps he dropped it and it broke when it hit one of those "massive " kerbstones .

Seen from the wider perspectives shown in  the video the critter can be sized not only by the kerb, white line, carriageway width and plants, but also the  granite in the tarmac.

It's  not  anything special.