Breaking: New Mystery Cat Photo
Posted by: Loren Coleman on June 29th, 2007
Lewiston, Maine’s Sun Journal’s morning edition for Friday, June 29th, will be breaking the story of a new sighting and photograph of the following Mystery Cat.
Click on image for full size version
This new photograph was taken near Sidney, Maine, in the central part of the state. Game wardens feel it shows proof of a mountain lion. Others at the newspaper are expressing some skepticism.
The cat photograph is clearly not a domestic cat, and does show the typical nose pattern, chest white hair, and overall structure of a mountain lion (puma, cougar, painter, panther, and other names).
This species is not accepted as existing in Maine, although sightings have occurred within the state for years.
What do you think it shows?
[Check back later for more details, and the article, when it is published. Details and photo courtesy of Mark LaFlamme.
Please click here for the morning update on this photograph.
]
About Loren Coleman
Loren Coleman is one of the world’s leading cryptozoologists, some say “the” leading living cryptozoologist. Certainly, he is acknowledged as the current living American researcher and writer who has most popularized cryptozoology in the late 20th and early 21st centuries.
Starting his fieldwork and investigations in 1960, after traveling and trekking extensively in pursuit of cryptozoological mysteries, Coleman began writing to share his experiences in 1969. An honorary member of Ivan T. Sanderson’s Society for the Investigation of the Unexplained in the 1970s, Coleman has been bestowed with similar honorary memberships of the North Idaho College Cryptozoology Club in 1983, and in subsequent years, that of the British Columbia Scientific Cryptozoology Club, CryptoSafari International, and other international organizations. He was also a Life Member and Benefactor of the International Society of Cryptozoology (now-defunct).
Loren Coleman’s daily blog, as a member of the Cryptomundo Team, served as an ongoing avenue of communication for the ever-growing body of cryptozoo news from 2005 through 2013. He returned as an infrequent contributor beginning Halloween week of 2015.
Coleman is the founder in 2003, and current director of the International Cryptozoology Museum in Portland, Maine.
We’ve been having mountain lion sightings here in Southwestern Ontario as well over the last couple of weeks. They’re not supposed to be native to this area either. I guess the species is trying to break new ground?
Wow, for once, I can say that’s definitely what it says it is: that’s a frickin’ mountain lion. Too bad I didn’t get to say that about a blobsquatch yet, but hey, there’s always tomorrow.
Hmm. Fuzzy but interesting. It will be nice to see how this turns out. I’m skeptical about the brilliant colors and how well centered the cat appears. I hope this proves to be real. I wish witnesses would start carrying around better cameras.
It almost looks like it has markings on it like a leopard or a tabby or something…could these simply be the result of pixelization of the image?
One things clear though, that’s no tabby!
The thing is it looks too shaggy and patterned to be a mountain lion. And it looks too stocky to be a lynx. If its not a hoax it looks pretty unusual.
well it looks like a puma or mountain lion but it seems bigger and slightly hairier at d chest. the leg also seems 2 be very muscled. doesnt seem like anything dat ive ever seen before
Do bobcats and cougars mate? Because thats sort of what THAT looks like. The face and head are not very “cougarish”, but the body appears to be of an impressive size.
Hi! from Oz. Down here we’ve had all soughts of feline things and mystery cats running all over the place for ages and they come in all colours, shapes and sizes but just like your mystery black cats and pumas there hard to put a finger or lens on. I’m no expert on mountain lions but I’ve seen enough photos and video to say this is not a mountain lion. However there’s been a lot of speculation here about cross-breading between known and unknown species and this could explain a lot of variations in sightings.If the photo is genuine I’d probably call it for a Bobcat- Puma cross.Although in all honesty I don’t know if it’s possible.
I rather suspect that the apparent shagginess is due to pixelation. However, if it is not, it brings to mind the possibility of a female Atrox. I consider that much less likely than a fuzzy pic of a cougar.
I am thinking more along the line of Bobcat or Puma. But the size is telling me a Mountain Lion. I do know one thing I would not want to walk up on it on a trail in the woods.
Looks like a Bobcat headwise but that could just be pixilation
Twblack’s comment contains terminology confusion.
The reality is that the name “mountain lion” = “puma.”
Hmmm….take a large lynx, mix in some cougar and a dash of african lion and I’d say that would be a close approximation of the creature in the picture.
The facial features bear a striking resemblance to the face on mars:::chuckle::: Seriously, the eyes look really small, I can’t make out its nose and the coloring, musculature and semi mane seem to cause it to fall into the Felis Photoshoppedi column.
Please click here for the update on this photograph.
Um, it’s a bobcat.
PHOTOSHOP!!!!! And very poor at that! Come on do a lil better than that.
I just have some questions about cougars. Their population is it low or High, and have people had problems before with them expanding their territory?
I am always wary, when there is only one photograph….and its a perfect one at that.
However in this case I think it’s genuine. You can usually tell a tampered picture, by viewing it in the negative. I’ve done that, and I cannot see any of the usual photoshop pointers.
Now what species the cat is, is another question.
It looks remarkably like a pumapard, (puma x leopard cross),
http://messybeast.com/genetics/pumapard2.jpg
Sorry, but this isn’t a cougar, panther, mountain lion or anything of the sort. This is a Bobcat. You can tell by the faint black markings covering its body, and its unusually large head. It also has a large tuft of white fur on its chest, something cougars do not have, but bobcats and lynx do. And no, this isn’t wild. This cat has been enlarged and stretched out in some kind of photoshop program and put in this picture, (if you look closely on the enlarged picture, you can still see cropped lines around the cat; there are two different blacks). In addition, even if this was real, this image is far too picturesque; wild cats don’t just majestically walk on top of rocks, stare down at hikers and sit still so they can be centered in the photograph. It just doesn’t happen. In addition, why didn’t he take more pictures of such a magnificent animal. It’s not like it was running away, (not according to the picture anyway). Finally, the heavy pixilation suggests some kind of phot manipulation.
Hi,
Well I was just at the Maine Wildlife Park and they have a mountain lion there. What that is a picture of I can’t tell. Also, we do have other places that house big cats here, DEW Wildlife Kingdom. However, I would like to add that even on my Razr (and that does look grainy sorta like my camera phone pictures, It takes me a couple seconds between getting the next picture taken (gotta save it in between each picture). Cats are pretty fast aren’t they? LOL That one looks ready to move.
Hope I am wrong, but it looks very photoshopped to me :-/
It just looks so blurry compared to the surroundings.
And last I saw, Pumas dont have a coat pattern, so if it’s real I dont think it’s a Puma.
Bobcat, A big one too!
Interesting you should mention the Face on Mars dharkheart (which despite Nasa’s best attempts at debunking remains clearly a face, although a seriously eroded one) as the right hand side of the face resembles a lion. 🙂
Loren,
Correct me if I am wrong, but didn’t some scat in NH test positive DNA to a mountain lion a few years ago? Off the top of my head, it was the Ossipee region??? If this is a mountain lion/cougar, it shouldn’t be a massive shock for those of us who live in the area. I’m in NH.
I saw a catamount (quasi-extinct Vermont mountain lion) twice in 1991, both times at my house, which is in the woods of central Vermont. The first time, I was working at my desk when a huge cat with a very distinctive long tail sauntered past my window, not 20 feet away. The second time, it was winter and I barely glimpsed something out back. We went to investigate and found the tracks, which were unmistakable: feline, 4 inches long, with a 20″+ stride. DNA testing of scat confirmed a catamount in Vermont in 1994, but in 1998 further testing cast doubt on the original finding. I certainly haven’t seen another one since.
All this is to say I wouldn’t be the least bit surprised if there were mountain lions in Maine, but I must say, the cat in this photo seems a bit darker and more mottled than I would expect a mountain lion. It’s also difficult to get a sense of scale from the picture.
The Maine Wildlife Park is a zoo. Many zoos contain pumas. This zoo contains animals that were once native to Maine, and may be said to be extinct today.
If the photo is genuine, I would say mountain lion. I think the blowup creates the fuzziness and any appearance of markings. The leg does look strikingly muscled, but it still looks more like a mountain lion than anything else.
Not a cougar IMHO.
It looks about as real as a Cottingham fairy.
Apparently this cat’s true nature is so nebulous, we might as well say it’s a clouded leopard and call it a day!
(Sorry, couldn’t resist that one)
Newbie here, so I apologize if my info is old news, but this French language website has some fantastic pics of unusual big cat hybrids.
http://fauvesdumonde.free.fr/hybride/hybride2.php
Don’t miss the link to the pic of an ocelot/cougar
http://view.photos-animaux.com/photos,image,5:831::270484;9.html
If that’s possible, then a bobcat or lynx/ cougar hybrid is plausible.
KA