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<div id=3D"yui_
Quoting John and Nhung <nhungjohn@eastlink.ca>:
>> (Hence the absence of proof of the existence of the Eastern Cougar
>> in NS does not disprove their existence!)
> We ignore anecdotal evidence (Wrong word?) at our peril. We
> shouldn't be obliged to accept anecdotal implications with
> certainly, but need to at least take the questions they raise
> seriously.
* there's a whole hierarchy of questions with Cougar photos - is the
picture authentic? (e.g. the photo, supposedly from Peterborough,
Ontario, of a Cougar chasing Blacktail Deer through a stand of
Lodgepole Pine), is the photo of an escaped captive or pet? (e.g. the
South American Cougar hair from Chicoutimi), and finally - does it
represent a reproducing population? (e.g. the Connecticut roadkill
which had been tagged in Wisconsin).
It's really only the last question that's of substantial interest
(there is also the historical query, is it descended from original
local stock, or from escaped captives?), but the interesting thing
about this question is that, in my mind, it answers itself in the
Deer-saturated regions of southern Canada where there's the most
interest in Cougar sightings: if we had reproducing populations of
Cougars, there would be so much food for them that they'd be abundant,
and there'd be no question where they occurred (look at our other
formerly extirpated deer-eating Carnivore - the only question there is
whether you call them Wolves or Coyotes).
In my mind the most interesting Cougar questions are: how soon will
wanderers from the west and escaped captives coalesce into a
reproducing population? ...and what will be the relative genetic
contribution of escaped captives and wanderers from the west to a
restored eastern Cougar population? Another question about the
escaped/released captives, is whether they know enough about hunting
to take down Deer and survive. I think it's very likely that bowl-fed
escaped or dumped captives may be the source of many Cougar photos,
and that after being photographed, and without a mother's
introduction to the ways of the world, they may starve rather than
survive.
>>> https://plus.google.com/105279604431231931414/posts/2htv7BRj6Aj
fred.
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abandoned." Ghiselen, 1969. Triumph of the Darwinian Method, p 237.
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