next message in archive
next message in thread
previous message in archive
previous message in thread
Index of Subjects
newspapers, etc. We know their criteria for reporting; "If it blee
The Nova Scotia Department of Natural Resources apparently puts a lot of
effort into checking out cougar reports. Here is a link to an article
by Mark Paulsifer, a NSDNR biologist, written 19 years ago.
(http://www.gov.ns.ca/natr/wildlife/conserva/eastern-co).
It details how he responded to sightings and gives a couple of examples.
It is clear that despite extraordinary efforts there is little or no
concrete evidence of cougars in Nova Scotia. As others have said, it is
not that people are starting out saying they do not exist, they are
saying that a lot of effort has been put in to finding concrete evidence
and it is very limited. This was written 19 years ago, and the
situation appears to be similar today.
Fred Scott, a knowledgeable and careful naturalist, compiled evidence
about the Eastern Cougar for a status assessment of the species for the
Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada. The citation
for Fred's report is:
Scott, Fred. 1998. COSEWIC status report on cougar, eastern population,
_Puma concolor couguar_. Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife
in Canada, Ottawa. I tried, but was unsuccessful at, finding a copy
online this afternoon.
However there is a summary of his report in the recent Hinterland Who's
Who on cougar for Canada (http://www.hww.ca/hww2.asp?id=87):
"Originally designated "endangered" in 1978 by the Committee on the
Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada, since 1998 the [eastern
population] cougar has been designated as "data deficient." This status
was assigned because of the lack of genetic evidence to show that the
eastern race was distinct; the lack of recent physical evidence to show
that cougars still occur in eastern Canada; and some information
suggesting that cougar sightings may be explained by escaped captive
animals. There is, therefore, insufficient information to assign a
status to this animal."
I do not see any group saying they do not exist, just that there is
virtually no evidence to support a wild population of cougar in Nova
Scotia. A key phrase in the paragraph above is that escaped captive
animals could account for some of the sightings.
David McCorquodale
-----Original Message-----
From: naturens-owner@chebucto.ns.ca
[mailto:naturens-owner@chebucto.ns.ca] On Behalf Of Steve Shaw
Sent: February 9, 2011 4:43 PM
To: naturens@chebucto.ns.ca
Subject: RE: [NatureNS] Eastern Cougar or ginger tom?
Hi Derek et al.,
With their own eyes, surely 'yes', because most of us have good
stereoscopic vision and so see the world three-dimensionally (3D): the
several available depth cues can easily reveal the difference between
a domestic cat and a much larger cougar because we automatically
calibrate for object distance.
In a still photograph, not necessarily so, because the photo contains
only a flat (2D) projection of the world. Unless there are good
secondary depth cues in the photo, like the sizes of trees or other
familiar objects, apparent size can be ambiguous. The legend of the
cat-cougar confound showed up a few years ago when it turned out that
a photograph purporting showing a cougar in the middle distance really
pictured a large ginger tom not that far away from the camera.
Talking of sasquatches, the same photographic distance ambiguity was
used to fake one of the most famous images of the 'Loch Ness Monster'.
This had the monster sticking its neck out of the water somewhere
near the middle of the loch amid largish waves, and was widely
accepted as being real and unfakeable for decades. If memory serves,
it was actually constructed by the faker from a toy submarine under
water with a rubber extension fixed on top, and photographed just a
few feet from the water's edge that was stirred with a stick to make a
few ripples. As always, the legend is more appealing than the
explanation.
Steve
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Quoting D W Bridgehouse <d.bridgehouse@ns.sympatico.ca>
> It may be a naive of me - but - wishful thinking that most people
would
> surely recognize the difference between a "house" cat and a "cougar"
? ? ?
> DB
next message in archive
next message in thread
previous message in archive
previous message in thread
Index of Subjects