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Comments:
Michael McC. - 2005-03-09 13:40:50 I have to say that I've been viewing the whole "resurgent cougar population in Michigan" thing with mixed feelings. The love of nature side of me welcomes it, but the dad who likes to take his kids hiking part gets nervous when he knows that many of those places are places where cougars have been sighted.* * * * * * * * * * * * Laura - 2005-03-09 13:42:24 Michael: Yes, the article conjectured that it was an escaped pet. I'm not convinced. I think there's more out there than we necessarily know about, even in built-up SE MI.* * * * * * * * * * * * Laura - 2005-03-09 13:44:04 Farlane: To my understanding cougars are shy of people and are not people eaters. Far as I'm concerned they were here first. I'm tired of people acting like they own the place and disrupting other animals for the sake of our own needs (or just wants).* * * * * * * * * * * * Laura - 2005-03-09 13:46:25 (I don't mean you in particular, Farlane, sorry, I meant people who can't learn to respect the rights of animals to live here too, and not get live-trapped every five seconds because some idiot wants to build a golf course).* * * * * * * * * * * * Anna - 2005-03-09 13:58:55 What a BIZARRE coincidence, given my sighting of mountain lion (cougar) tracks hiking here in CT just two weeks ago. There's a lot of talk around here about cougars/mountain lions making a comeback. There are some skeptics, but others believe that it's because of the overabundance of deer, who have lost most of their predators (and habitat) and are now living densely in patches of woods around our towns. Mountain lions were abundant before they were all hunted out. My reading on the subject mostly says that they are not dangerous to humans, but are mildly dangerous to house-pets, who shouldn't be left unattended outside if there are mountain lions around.* * * * * * * * * * * * Anna - 2005-03-09 14:00:42 Er... in my excitement my post was sort of incoherent. What I should have said is that mountain lions are attracted by deer (prey). * * * * * * * * * * * * Laura - 2005-03-09 14:02:00 Anna: Yes--I thought of your recent mention of mountain lions (apparently the same animal) when I read the story this a.m., Anna. As you said, the Freep story says they eat whitetails (which are overrunning Michigan--I even say one bounding through the Dixboro new-bridge construction site the other day).* * * * * * * * * * * * Laura - 2005-03-09 14:03:20 The more I think about the escaped-pet thing, the more it sounds bogus. Who would keep one for a pet in the first place? I think it's a case of the cats just being overlooked. * * * * * * * * * * * * Anna - 2005-03-09 14:05:53 Me too -- if it were a TIGER or something not native to North America, I would say "escaped pet", but I also do not buy the idea that mountain lions, known for centuries to have existed as a native species in the Eastern half of the country, are escaped pets. They are just another endangered species making a comeback a la eagles. Hallelujah, as far as I'm concerned.* * * * * * * * * * * * Laura - 2005-03-09 14:08:24 Yep--it's native to Michigan, too ("panther" also refers to cougars). I agree--I think they're just making a comeback, and more power to them! * * * * * * * * * * * * Anna - 2005-03-09 14:12:58 I did a bunch of obsessive googling after my track sighting and found this interesting website: http://www.easterncougarnet.org/ I think it was even that website that had a hidden cougar cam in West Virginia that caught a bunch of cougars with a night-vision camera (very cool!!!). Or maybe I'm thinking of another. Anyway, the cougar network cite does mention the Michigan sighting as confirmed -- apparently via DNA on the fir.* * * * * * * * * * * * Laura - 2005-03-09 14:16:04 Nice link, Anna--thank you! The site says, "North American's apex predator is making a comeback.� Many wildlife biologists now believe that cougar re-colonization of the Midwest and East is inevitable." The picture of the Arkansas cougar is cool, too. Beautiful animals. This re-colonization is the best news I've heard all day and certainly cheers me up.* * * * * * * * * * * * Anna - 2005-03-09 14:18:52 The cougar cam pictures can be seen on this site: http://www.easterncougar.org/ (note different from the url I posted above).* * * * * * * * * * * * Anna - 2005-03-09 14:21:16 You know what I've been seeing around here lately is tons and tons of wild turkeys. The first time I saw a group of three of them in someone's yard, I skidded to a stop to look at them, but now I see them everywhere and have gotten used to seeing flocks of 20 of them walking around. How fun -- New England has wild turkeys again!* * * * * * * * * * * * Laura - 2005-03-09 14:31:21 Heh--the cougar-cam photos were fun, thank you Anna...kind of funny that in 2003 they photographed everything but cougars! My favorite one was the mysterious, vaguely ominous "unknown animal" We have some outdoors people who kindly visit the blog...wonder if they can peg it. The scientist said, "I have examined the mystery photo of the large, tawny animal and offer the things that caught my eye: 1) The bulk and texture of the hair were such that I could imagine it being a black bear, but only if was missing its outer guard hairs and the camera had pretty severely overexposed the shot (this is certainly true in the photo's center). The hair appears wooly - not straight as would be expected in a deer or cougar. The hair does not appear to be long enough for a coyote. 2) The color could be that of a cougar, deer, or coyote. 3) The left rear leg may be too narrow to be that of a bear. 4) The right rear flank (upper leg) has a dark marking that is reminiscent of a coyote. 5) There are so many confounding features that are likely a product of its closeness to the camera and the flash, that a confident ID are impossible (at least for me to make)."* * * * * * * * * * * * Anna - 2005-03-09 15:10:48 I also thought it was funny that they filmed everything but cougars, but the bobcat pictures were pretty thrilling, at least to this urban dweller :)* * * * * * * * * * * * Anna - 2005-03-09 15:12:54 BTW, I personally wondered if the unknown animal was a mastiff or greate dane or some other large dog.* * * * * * * * * * * * Laura - 2005-03-09 15:13:18 I liked seeing all the different animals. It seems also like a good way to get thumbnail representative counts of the animals living in a given place. The wildest animal we have around here is my street's resident bunny, who pays different households visits in turn and may often be seen sitting blithely in a neighbor's yard, cool as a cucumber, with cars whizzing by.* * * * * * * * * * * * Laura - 2005-03-09 15:14:45 I thought the mystery beast was kind of cougarish. But what do I know. Looks to me like it was sniffing/checking out the camera apparatus. So maybe it's an animal smart enough to recognize that the camera setup was a foreign element in its environment.* * * * * * * * * * * * Anna - 2005-03-09 15:16:59 The bobcats were gorgeous, weren't they? It was so neat to see them relaxed and in their own enviroment. Ditto for the bears. I'd never seen a picture of a coyote before. They're meaner looking than I thought they would be. Their body outline is somehow menacing.* * * * * * * * * * * * Laura - 2005-03-09 15:20:44 The bobcats were beautiful, and, as you say, it's cool to see animals just strolling around, unconcerned, on their own turf. The coyote was kind of hunched over, but they mentioned it was "nursing"...maybe that made it look kind of odd. Coyotes are also benign to humans. There are quite a few of them in Washtenaw County, specially the western half.* * * * * * * * * * * * raymond - 2005-03-09 15:25:14 Saw a red fox over by Concordia College last week. If it had been summer flies woulda been buzzing around its broken body. Buried one out front by the road couple years ago. Life's short for a cute lil furball. Coyotes, deer, and great horned owls have disappeared around here. We have plenty of raccoons, opossums, and subdividians. Maybe YD's Monster got loose and can account for the "unknown animal" pics.* * * * * * * * * * * * Anna - 2005-03-09 15:41:30 The most eerie, eerie thing I've ever heard was coyotes taking down a deer (at least that's what everyone assumed it was). I was at my riend's house, and he lives right near a thousand-acre wooded preserve. We could hear one coyote bark, then another, then another, then another... then the frequency and intensity increased until it sounded like there were twenty of them screaming. Apparently that's how they hunt. They close in on their prey and start barking from all directions. It was very spooky. I was glad all dogs were present and accounted for.* * * * * * * * * * * * Laura - 2005-03-09 16:01:32 A coyote's howl may be heard here.* * * * * * * * * * * * yd - 2005-03-09 16:43:27 The monster has only escaped once. He ran straight to the keg parking lot to eat a flattened pizza he had been smelling on walks for the week prior. When he got home he deposited the pizza on the kitchen floor. He hasn't had much scrotum lately, he's desperate. I saw a fox on the way to work a month ago. trotting along the golf cours opposite COncordia. Looking for his mommy.* * * * * * * * * * * * yd - 2005-03-09 16:44:41 He needed his College Inn Injection. (Who would name a pizza place that?)* * * * * * * * * * * * Laura - 2005-03-09 16:48:43 Dogs are so single-minded. They just WON'T REST till they sniff the stump or eat the pizza or do whatever it is that just must be done right now. I was surprised to hear about Raymond's and YD's fox sightings around Concordia and the golf course. YD, was it a pup you saw? I didn't know foxes had pups so early in the year.* * * * * * * * * * * * Laura - 2005-03-09 16:56:11 YD: That is an odd name. It's not an inn, after all. Who knows. May I ask, what's the breed or breed mixture that has produced such a distinctive "monster"?* * * * * * * * * * * * LF - 2005-03-09 17:20:19 Saw a fox at twilight at a local golf course last summer. Trotting unconcerned around the pond at the 18th hole. Sniffed at our golf balls and went on it's way. As for College Inn Pizza, I assumed they tried to capitalize on Cottage Inn, but didn't think about the end result - Collagen Pizza.* * * * * * * * * * * * Laura - 2005-03-09 17:23:05 Wow. I hope I get to see one this coming spring and summer. Very elegant animals. I had to laugh at "Collagen Pizza."* * * * * * * * * * * * AnnArborcrat - 2005-03-10 08:25:45 There is a new book out titled Beast of Never, Cat of God by Bob Butz. It is about the puma, mountain lion, cougar, panther, catamount east of the Mississippi and includes lots of Michign information, mostly up north. Nature and wildlife are resilient. Coyotes are everywhere in Michigan and throughout large metro areas of the east. While I agree we need to protect nature, nature will always have the last say. * * * * * * * * * * * * Laura - 2005-03-10 09:00:07 Sounds very interesting, AnnArborcrat. Also, you give a good rundown on the various names for this animal. I will keep an eye out for Butz's book next time I go to the library; thank you for mentioning it.* * * * * * * * * * * * raymond - 2005-03-10 09:48:28 ...as to nature having the last say, I heard this past week that no matter what cataclysm may befall our planet, cockroaches, Hillary, and Martha will persevere...* * * * * * * * * * * * Laura - 2005-03-10 09:51:16 How strange--I too read that phrase somewhere, though I forget where.* * * * * * * * * * * * Andy - 2005-03-11 05:21:52 "One Democratic image maker admiringly predicts that, having survived their virago and victim phases, our two most relentless blondes will outlast everyone: "When the world ends, there will be left only a few cockroaches, Cher, Hillary and Martha." --Maureen Down 3/6/05 column I swear I saw a coyote cross my street in Ypsi (Summit St., between Washtenaw and Michigan Ave.) this past fall. Maybe it was just a dog, but its shape and something about the smoothness and force of its running had me convinced otherwise. I'd seen one the previous winter for sure in a far out suburb of Boston, and what I saw here synched up pretty well with that image. * * * * * * * * * * * * Michael McC. - 2005-03-11 10:16:21 I live about ten miles north of Ypsi, and we had a pack of coyotes two and three years ago, but they're went south for the winter each year, and last year they didn't come back. I've heard them take down several deer within a hundred yards of the house. And there have been many, many documented cases of mountain lions/cougars attacking hikers and campers. They certainly are NOT safe around humans, particularly children. Having lots of them would really change the equation around here. Not that I don't think they're beautiful, I just like being part of the dominant predator species a lot more than being part of a prey species (present company excepted).8^)* * * * * * * * * * * * Laura - 2005-03-11 10:19:04 Andy: wow. It may well have been. That would be very cool, though it wouldn't last long, I daresay, in an urban environment. Michael: very cool to have a pack so close by. I'd love that. Hmm...I'll have to do some research to pin down the lethality of mountain lions.* * * * * * * * * * * * Andy - 2005-03-12 03:47:38 Oh, and I just read in January's Harper's Index that the minimum number of wild boar in Berlin is 3000!* * * * * * * * * * * * Laura - 2005-03-12 12:12:24 Wow. In a big city, no less--fairly amazing.* * * * * * * * * * * * add your comment: |
