Comments on: Decatur’s Mystery Photo - Part II

By: DARHOP

DARHOP — Thu, 19 Oct 2006 23:04:06 +0000

Black Jack, there you are. I’ve been looking for you. Here kitty kitty.

By: mystery_man

mystery_man — Wed, 27 Sep 2006 15:49:29 +0000

I agree, kittenz. The black color gives it a certain mystique but a black housecat is still just a housecat. I agree there is no mystery here.

By: kittenz

kittenz — Wed, 27 Sep 2006 11:00:49 +0000

If this feline was any other color than solid black, there would not even be a controvery at all. Try imagining this cat with tabby coloration. Or calico. Or Siamese. Or any of the other myriad colors & patterns of a housecat. It is only the black color that allows it even to be presented as a “mystery cat”. There is no mystery here.

By: Rillo777

Rillo777 — Tue, 26 Sep 2006 23:38:26 +0000

As a semi-professional photographer I see some things that I find interesting in this picture. First, the shadows do in fact elongate the nose and the picture was taken from slightly above the subject at an angle that would suggest the photographer was bending down slightly or perhaps even crouched. Second, the tree immediately in front of the cat is washed out by the flash suggesting that the photo was taken at close range. Unless the camera used had a very strong flash, I would say that the cat is less than maybe 15 ft. away from the camera, or possibly it the cat tripped one of those infrared game cameras that hunters set up to check for game. in any case, it was taken at close range and the photo is nothing but a normal housecat.

By: dre222

dre222 — Tue, 26 Sep 2006 15:38:28 +0000

One possibility is a wild/domestic hybrid. A few domestic cat breeds claim this wild-domestic mating as part of their lineage. Usually the results of this kind of mating end up being the 20+ lb cats. Since bobcats can be found in this area, it could be a bobcat + barn cat offspring. Look at the origins of the Pixie-Bob breed from the Pacific Northwest Red Bobcat.

By: afigbee

afigbee — Mon, 25 Sep 2006 20:37:40 +0000

My question about the Australian cat was trying to lead to the idea that even though feral cats are no bigger than house cats and the African wildcat isn’t any larger, there are domestic breeds, like the Maine coon cat, that get quite big, therefore, if a local population of feral cat started out really large in the first place, wouldn’t their descendents have tended to increase in the same direction creating an abnormally large feral cat approaching lynx size?

It seems to me something like that could become its own species fairly quickly simply because it would have a hard time mating with anything smaller. It could be evolution in action.

By: satarina

satarina — Mon, 25 Sep 2006 18:12:47 +0000

Well, after looking at all the pics, I can’t see any reason why that is anything but a housecat. I used to know a man who had a cat that was at least twice the size of any I’d ever owned, which he claimed was part bobcat. All I know is that the cat was too big to be picked up. So size really means nothing.

And though I’m not sure how relevant it is to the pic, my mother has 3 black cats that don’t have even a speck of white on them. And as far as the nose of the mystery cat, if it isn’t just shadows making it look odd, it could be beat up (scarred) from fighting. Tom cats can tear each other up pretty badly.

By: Mnynames

Mnynames — Mon, 25 Sep 2006 17:39:47 +0000

I see Patch has that small spot of white just below the neck that I mentioned most black house cats have.

By: One Eyed Cat

One Eyed Cat — Mon, 25 Sep 2006 17:03:18 +0000

‘Tomcat jowls’ and thick fur can both explain the facial differences some are seeing — especially if they are both present.

By: Sky King

Sky King — Mon, 25 Sep 2006 16:55:08 +0000

As almost everyone believes this to be a house cat, I can’t let a consensus stand.

Young melanistic panther. It’s not what I believe, but it’s what I’ll say.