In 2001 a couple from west of Sydney over the Blue Mountains videotaped a large cat and an even larger black cat with it. Debate raged on what it was. I interviewed the couple and photographed images from the screen as they showed me the footage.

I have the entire tape and spent 18 months on an off and two weeks atthe time researching this.

First the Lithgow panther or any other panther in Australia are not Leopards. While there are remote possibilities that Leopards/cougars and other exotic big cats roam the Australian bush, only Victoria (where breeding populations of puma are fact (although black pumas are unheard of these days anywhere else) and Western Australia-where bronwish/tawny white cougars are fact) the black creatures seen elsewhere are not big cats but possibly a new species of Marsupial cat or a related species to the Thylacoleo carnifex-the Australian Marsupial Lion)

The below photograph shows how huge this other big black cat was.

It was black in the video but i have enhanced it to bring out details, the cat is pitch black.

I will post another shot of how it was in the video if anyone is interested.

No such thing as a black cougar, unless they breed with a black jaguar and the gene that carries the black spotted fur is dominate.

This is probaly that, a black jaguar, which can look pitch solid back.

Do you think the pic is of a marsupial, or a cat? You called it both.



Sure there can be, we just don't have a specimen yet. Any cat can be melanistic.

I met an American who claims he has seen black pumas in the states.

Well..Thylacoleo carnifex is also called the "Marsupial Lion" and it isn't a lion.

The Thylacine is also called the "Tasmanian tiger" but it isn't a tiger..

The name "Marsupial cat" is just a name..To show that it has cat-like traits but marsupial tracks. I think the picture from the Lithgow panther footage is a feral cat!!It is not a panther- Melanistic (black) Leopard..Although science is giving up on that name for the leopard..

I have over 30 tracks of that particular black animal, hair samples and other evidence. These marsupial cats (panthers) we talk of have marsupial-type foot structures not catlike..They have a distinct lobe that no other animal possesses, outside of a Marsupial.

OMG. I remember seeing this on a News report. They say, a circus couldnt afford to keep it so It "accidently got away". "Meaning" The animal was ontained throught the black market. It couldnt be sold without the origin being accounted for.
" Ya's didnt here that from me okies!!!"

The footage looked a bit hazy, typical, boot foot, unexplained mystery, "wow look what we saw", etc video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7CN0xTiz9ns

lolz, lolz

You state that rather nonchalantly. There have been no examples of a melanistic cougar yet discovered. That's fairly significant. It's difficult to account for the numbers of "black panthers" observed in the USA, UK, and Australia.

Crimson, it's been said American troops stationed in Australia kept mascots and wild animals. It's possible some exotics were released after the war, or escaped. It's a fascinating subject to me, and I appreciate your posting and the research you've done.

Just because an animal is said not to be found somewhere, doesn't mean it isn't. We have cats in Arkansas that we're not supposed to have and, if you go by what research says, we don't have. It's going to be a cat regardless, so why is it so important to identify it? If they're not native, then it won't tell anything about that area... will it?

Gee, I'm just funny that way, wondering about species. I'm a bird watcher, too. I find it an interesting thing, that the only ready explanation, a black cougar, has never been positively identified. I realize people are seeing a large black cat, I'm intrigued by identifying it. It's not unlike bigfoot, in that reliable eye witness reports are not rare, yet physical evidence seems lacking.

Look at the tail, its more of a big cat one.

Well I remember people in Britian were keeping exotic animals in the 60's before laws were tightened. Then they were released into the wild after laws were inacted. Its easy to imagine people doing the same with black pumas in the US. Being basically the same as the mountain lion breeding would not be a problem and they would have about the same chances for success in the geography. It could have introduced the black coloring into the mountain lion population. Or maybe its just a very dark coloration that people see as black sort of like the king cheeta

Except it has yet to be shown a black puma/mountain lion exists.

that's what i dropped in to say

my dad and i saw a black housecat stalking through some grass one day.. i don't know exactly how to describe it, but at first we were both like 'wtf?' as the cat had somehow puffed itself out to look larger (or fur was blowing in the wind?) it looked a lot larger than a normal cat.. so we moved closer and sure enough it was just a cat..

i certainly don't mean to poo-poo the thread, i'm sure of all the sightings, videotape and footprint casts, there must be something to the story.. but what my old man and i at first thought was strange just turned out to be normal..

I also have prints of paw tracks and after being reviewed by an expert he put them down to a possible panther but more likely marsupial lion.