Refs & Links Page 2

EPISODE 45

Radio Suffolk follow up to this episode: Jon Wright’s evening show on BBC Radio Suffolk, 5 March

38 mins into the program via this link: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p09750pn

The Bury St Edmunds bobcat incident – a 2020 press report as mentioned by Matt https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/11248424/bobcat-captured-savaging-farmers-chickens/

EPISODE 44

Rare Creatures – a 20 minute film on big cat sightings in Kintyre, as discussed with the film’s producer and one the featured witnesses in this episode.

EPISODE 43

Uffington chalk beast – horse, dog, cat or panther?

Our guest John suggested that this chalk figure in Oxfordshire widely known as a horse may in fact be a representation of a cat. A debate on the animal options , the original date of the figure, and the horse Vs cat debate is set out in this discussion thread… https://forums.forteana.org/index.php?threads/uffington-white-horse.289/

Wood pasture (word of the week): A type of habitat found in Epping Forest which large cats would favor. An explanation of wood pasture is set out in the link below.

What is Wood Pasture and Parkland?

EPISODE 42

2010 photo of “big cat” (left photo) by our first guest Laura from Hertfordshire. A domestic cat sized toy (15 ins high) was put in the same place the next day (right photo), so both are sitting in about 4-6 ins of stubble. The toy is slightly closer to the camera so for correct scale comparison the toy photo needs to be further reduced so the backgrounds in the 2 photos align. This would make the toy even smaller. Laura and her mother estimate the sitting “big cat” to be around 30 inches tall. Laura gives permission for use of photos for Big Cat Conversations only.

Wild Obsession: An article from National Geographic discussing the issues presented by exotic pets. This relates to our word of the week, “exotic”. https://www.nationalgeographic.com/magazine/2014/04/exotic-pets/

Mysterious Big Cats of Hertfordshire – Facebook group for big cat sightings in Herts, run by our second guest, Lian. https://www.facebook.com/groups/762834447478458

EPISODE 41

**Big Cake Conversations** – Birthday cake photo sent from one of our listeners, Tom, in Southampton.

Alleged black panther footage, Stroud area, Feb 2020
Footage from Stroud area taken by Sue Evans in February 2020 of an alleged black panther. Sue’s husband saw it close up through 20×60bins, and described it as “a big stocky black panther, and with spots under the Black coat”. The animal was around 350 meters away and Sue had her camera phone on full zoom. https://www.gloucestershirelive.co.uk/news/gloucester-news/big-cat-spotted-prowling-stroud-4824061

Lions of the East – a new documentary on the mountain lion reports through North East USA where wild pumas are not officially recognised.

Lions of the East full documentary: https://petakov-media.square.site/

EPISODE 40

The station scene where Billy our guest passed through on his inspection in 2015 during his main night-time encounter.

Helensburgh railway footage, 2009

**Illustration for our word of the week.**
Thanks to Chris Degl & TetZooCon 2020.

EPISODE 39

Chatoyancy: Explanation and examples for word of the week
https://geology.com/gemstones/chatoyancy/

Wild Ireland – details of the Wild Ireland project mentioned by our guest Annie. https://www.wildireland.org/animals

TetZooCon 12 Dec 2020: Details of the web-based convention which includes a discussion on British big cats.
http://tetzoo.com/convention

http://tetzoo.com/blog/2020/12/5/tetzoomcon-2020

EPISODE 38

Californian Mountain Lions. A documentary released in April 2020 on the management and monitoring of pumas in California, with emphasis on helping the connectivity between small populations and helping genetic diversity. The final section shows examples of safe wildlife crossing points on highways including underpasses and proposed new green bridges.

Green bridges article from National Geographic: https://www.nationalgeographic.co.uk/animals/2019/04/how-wildlife-bridges-over-highways-make-animals-and-people-safer

EPISODE 37

The Lynx and Us – ordering details in links below for David Hetherington’s book, as discussed in this episode

https://www.scotlandbigpicture.com/Store/books/the-lynx-and-us

https://www.nhbs.com/the-lynx-and-us-book

Photographing Eurasian lynx – 5 minute video showing the work of Laurent Geslin as he tracks and searches for signs of Eurasian lynx, and sets up tailored camera traps and hides in the Jura mountains of Switzerland.

Lynx footage? Mobile phone camera footage in the press from Devon, 2019, which some people feel may be a lynx: https://www.plymouthherald.co.uk/news/plymouth-news/plymouth-dad-claims-saw-big-3569174

EPISODE 36

We briefly mention the Iberian lynx of Southern Spain and Portugal in the second half of the episode – above and below are links to 2 video snippets on work to supplement the low population of Iberian lynx and help it recover:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qzypjvMf844

Feature length Nat Geo documentary on work to recover the Iberian lynx population:

Dehesa – trailer for a new documentary film (2020) about the wildlife of the scrub-woodland habitat of the Iberian lynx in Andalusia, Spain.

EPISODE 35

Full trailer for upcoming documentary by Matt Everett.
The documentary features Rick and multiple guests from the BCC podcasts.

2015 photo burst from trail camera in Devon.

Pic 1: First triggered photo – animal behind tree making shadow on neighbouring tree.
Pic 2: Animal behind the tree moves off
Pic 3: A presumed different animal appears, assumed to be jumping over low branch.
Pic 4: Zoomed in version of Pic 3
Pic 5: Brightened zoomed in version.
Pic 6: Overlay of Pic 5 with 6 foot spirit level placed at position of animal.

Matt Jones grants permission for Big Cat Conversations only.

Two photos discussed with Matt in last part of episode – black animal with no collar viewed from car at roughly 100 meters in south Devon on 5 October 2020.
Each of the two photos shows the animal at the original photographed distance followed by a zoomed-in version.
Matt Jones grants permission for Big Cat Conversations only.

Candid Creatures book: Recommended book on trail camera photos from around the world featuring various wild cat species and other animals in the wild.

Possible big cat footage from Forest of Dean, 2019: Our guest Matt recommends this footage during the episode: https://www.facebook.com/GlosLiveOnline/videos/437252467036051/?v=437252467036051

EPISODE 34

Example of landscape connectivity influencing pumas in Santa Cruz https://www.facebook.com/santacruzpumas/photos/a.207124479467240/1081389248707421

Article on black servals in Kenya. Our second guest Joel describes what’s thought to be a black serval in his encounter near Hastings. https://www.earthtouchnews.com/natural-world/natural-world/whats-the-deal-with-kenyas-pitch-black-wild-cats

**Black leopard** illustration by our second guest Joel. **KG5design**

EPISODE 33

The series of photos and video taken by our first guest Paul at dusk in August 2020 of the animal he watched. A more precise scale reference photo is due to be taken. Paul requests no reproduction of his material.

Video example of chuffing (prusten) in this case by black jaguars. Video by Jaguars into the wild foundation.

Details of Exmoor Zoo, location of second half of this episode, in which we speak to owner Danny Reynolds about black leopards and pumas. https://www.exmoorzoo.co.uk/

More information about the black leopards and the Exmoor Beast at Exmoor Zoo. https://www.exmoorzoo.co.uk/animals/black-leopard

EPISODE 32

Details of our guest’s book

EPISODE 31

Johnny Kingdom with Chris Johnson and Steve Archibald checking first generation camera traps for the beast of Exmoor.
A short extract from Johnny Kingdom’s BBC Exmoor series.

Big cats responding to perfume lures – example of zoo experiment.

EPISODE 30

Short video explanation of animal night vision, for word of the week, tapetum lucidum http://thescienceexplorer.com/nature/video-how-nocturnal-animals-see-dark

Britain’s Big Cat Mystery: Official website for the upcoming documentary produced by Matt Everett as mentioned in the episode. https://www.britainsbigcatmystery.com/

Official Facebook page featuring additional content and regular updates for the documentary. https://www.facebook.com/britainsbigcatmystery/

EPISODE 29

**Illustrations of some jaguar colour morphs**. The ‘cobweb panther’ morph resembles what John described and would be similar for both black jaguars and black leopards.
Illustration courtesy of Verdant Hare https://www.deviantart.com/theverdanthare

Website for Dan Baines, our second guest, including his podcast: http://www.danbaines.com/about

Gloucester’s black dog legend. Statue and plaque marking Gloucester’s black dog legend at Over Farm Market, next to the former Black Dog Inn. The folklore of Britain’s spectral black dogs is discussed in the latter part of the episode.

EPISODE 28

On The Prowl: a new book from Columbia University Press – to be discussed in a future episode. https://cup.columbia.edu/book/on-the-prowl/9780231184502

Freshly consumed roe deer carcass found by Paul Ramsden in May 2019, two miles from the location of Andrew’s sighting of a black panther in May 2020.

Our guests Andrew (the witness) and Paul (local researcher) at the location of Andrew’s encounter with the large cat. Before the interview, Andrew confirmed the scale of the cat he saw equated to the panther prop in the photo. Andrew’s two dogs stopped suddenly on seeing the cat ahead of them on their walk.

The cat crossed this field from the path, then followed Andrew and his dogs, before moving off through a hole in the hedge.

The big cat’s back end?

Photos captured by a trail camera placed by the hole in the hedge mentioned by Andrew in the episode, where the big cat exited the scene after following Andrew and his dogs.

The hind quarters and tail of a black cat-like animal have been caught (bottom left of photo) by one of the photo-burst events of the camera. For scale judgement the photo is compared in an overlay with cattle also captured by the camera at the same angle. A roe deer fawn is also shown captured by the camera at the same location but when the camera was at a slightly different angle, preventing a precise overlay but still helping judge the scale of the potential cat.

Andrew the witness said: “It looks exactly like the big cat I encountered from what I can see, and the image is exactly where I saw the animal turn and move away through the hedge”.

Since these photos were obtained the camera has gone missing from the hedgerow, but Paul and Rick are hoping to work with local people and landowners to set up some more trail cameras in the area.

EPISODE 27

Video by our first guest of alleged large cat moving c.11m high in tree.
A scaling exercise will be done in winter 2020 once leaves are off the trees.
Please do not copy and reproduce this footage.

**Photo by our first guest:** an alleged large cat 11 meters up in tree with head down eating something it had rushed across branches to get to.
Please do not copy and reproduce this image.

https://www.batemanbooks.co.nz/product/new-zealand-mysteries/

New Zealand Mysteries: A link to our second guest Scott Bainbridge’s book which includes a chapter on big cat encounters in New Zealand.

Video of an alleged big cat seen at Inland Kaikoura Road, New Zealand, 2011.

New Zealand news report interviewing witnesses of a big cat in South Island 2019

https://www.tvnz.co.nz/one-news/new-zealand/no-feral-cat-marlborough-couple-say-they-nearly-hit-black-panther-sh1-north-kaikoura?fbclid=IwAR3a3VcgO5FY5Y41v-doJJ2dBPhIzBT9x6QZ4V820wMQ0ZEQghdI3ofPx14

Prints of Darkness – 2007 documentary on New Zealand’s big cat sightings in South Island.

EPISODE 26

The dark long image at lower centre right (with top of gorse bush in front) is an alleged resting black leopard as explained by Angela in the episode.
She retreated after seeing it and taking this photo.
She returned to judge the scale at 5 feet body length.

Kerry Mucklowe from the BBC comedy mocumentary This Country explains her interest in big cat sightings in Britain.

Clare Balding’s big cat sighting from the BBC Radio 4 series Rambings is reproduced in this episode. A local press report of the incident is linked below. https://www.herefordtimes.com/news/11282564.tv-presenter-clare-balding-spots-big-cat-at-the-doward-near-ross-on-wye/

EPISODE 25

Our guest Wendy’s wildlife hospital in Cornwall https://ravenswellcornwall.weebly.com/

Documentary trailer showing how a black leopard in India behaves subtly different from spotted leopards in Kabini reserve.

https://www.thebetterindia.com/215527/national-geographic-nagarhole-tiger-reserve-karnataka-real-black-panther-shaaz-jung-nor41/

Background article on the above documentary following the life of a black leopard in India.

EPISODE 24

Scratch marks from 2010 on the back of ‘Hen’ the horse belonging to Rachel our second guest.

Recommended book on close-up observations of Siberian tigers.

EPISODE 23

Our guests Michael Mayes’ book on black panthas of North America

Michael Mayes’ blog website, Texas Cryptid Hunter: http://texascryptidhunter.blogspot.com/

Michael Mayes’ Texas Crytid Hunter Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/pg/Texas-Cryptid-Hunter-115187128512565/posts/

Video: Did This Guy See a Black Panther Casually Hanging Out in Mississippi?

2017 video from Mississippi – of interest to the debate on possible black pumas.

Trailer for documentary on the black panthers reported in Wisconsin.

EPISODE 22

Photographs of alleged big cat in Herefordshire woodland taken by John our guest. First two are zoomed in, bottom photo shows full distance. We will try to scale the photos with John in the future.

Black leopard mother and cubs in Kenya: A short video clip of a melanistic leopard with young cubs. The rosettes on one of the cubs here means the father would have been a more usual spotted leopard, as two black leopard parents breed on 100% black offspring.
https://www.elewanacollection.com/news-information/latest-news/exciting-development-cameras-filmed-a-rare-black-leopard-mother-and-cubs

Journal of Zoology 2010 paper on black leopards in the Malay Peninsula https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/Near-fixation-of-melanism-in-leopards-of-the-Malay-Kawanishi-Sunquist/515cb80bafb696f31c9cc925cf1905232791febd

A short video explanation of allele, as mentioned in the discussion on melanism. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FsaYSGWuRmo

An ulna bone found by Paul (episode 17) showing shearing at the top and tooth pit impressions – top photo shows 1 pit, second and third show 3. This sample is to be analysed in the tooth pit study at Royal Agricultural University.

Close up the above sample showing the three tooth pit impressions.

EPISODE 21

Rick interviewing Rhoda and Jay – guests for this episode.

The thermal drone featured in this episode is showcased in this short video from South Africa.

Beavers back in Cornwall – details of the Cornwall beaver project as discussed by Jay and Rhoda. https://www.cornwallwildlifetrust.org.uk/what-we-do/our-conservation-work/on-land/cornwall-beaver-project

EPISODE 20

The second half of this short video shows a good example of a jungle cat (or swap cat) in its natural habitat.

Information and video on servals in their black, melanistic form in southern Africa. https://www.earthtouchnews.com/natural-world/natural-world/whats-the-deal-with-kenyas-pitch-black-wild-cats/

Short animated video showing the relationship between meso predators and alpha predators.

Preserved jungle cat specimen in Havant, Hampshire, killed on the road in nearby Hayling Island, 1988.

The Beast Of Hayling Island: details on the jungle cat killed on the road in Hayling Island. http://thespring.co.uk/news/the-beast-of-hayling-island/

EPISODE 19

Our guests, Alyn and Neil, on location in the Forest of Dean.

Photo of a small cat assumed to be a cub, as explained by Neil in the episode.
Moments after this photo was taken a much larger “spaniel sized” black cat sprang onto the path and rushed off together with this small cat.

Diagrams showing types of stride patterns in certain mammals, including diagonal walking, our word of the week. http://naturemappingfoundation.org/natmap/wild/track_patterns.pdf

Photos of the wild boar carcass thought to be killed and eaten by a big cat found in the Forest of Dean, as explained by one of our guests, Alyn.

Facebook group for Big Cat sightings in the Forest of Dean and surrounding areas, run by one of the guests, Alyn. https://www.facebook.com/groups/324934368395533/

EPISODE 18

Tim and Meri in conversation during episode 18.

Warning Sign put up in areas of Gloucestershire, as discussed by Rick and Tim.

EPISODE 17

Missing Panther – good luck to the new podcast on Australian big cat sightings… https://missingpanther.com.au/

EPISODE 16

Our guest Paul is happy to network with anyone interested in big cat reports in and around the Scottish Borders. His email is: macdonaldacademyATaol.com

Here is a link to the armoury website for our guest Paul, showing the historical works described briefly in the episode: www.macdonaldarms.com/armoury

Link to the book on naturalised animals of Britain and Ireland mentioned by Rick in the episode: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Naturalized-Animals-Britain-Ireland/dp/1847734545

EPISODE 15

A link to the report of a panther reported in Berja, Spain in 2013. This is a different case to the one discussed by Peter our guest in this episode. https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/en-espanol/sdhoy-black-panther-spotted-in-southern-spain-2013aug27-story.html

Example photos of Bubblehomes under construction, as mentioned in the podcast discussion, by our guest Peter Hughes in Spain.

EPISODE 14

A selection of big cat sculptures produced by our guest Shaun Williamson

Shaun Williamson’s book, Mauler https://www.amazon.co.uk/Mauler-Shawn-Williamson/dp/1904524370/ref=sr_1_9?keywords=Shawn+Williamson&qid=1576916597&s=books&sr=1-9

Australian film, The Hunter, featuring a Thylacine (Tasmaniam wolf) – as discussed by Rick and Shaun.

Footage of a large black animal, captured in the Forest Of Dean in 2019, as discussed by Rick. Judge for yourself what you think…

https://www.facebook.com/GlosLiveOnline/videos/437252467036051/?v=437252467036051

EPISODE 13

Wendy’s (our first guest) Facebook group: Big Cat Believers ONLY https://www.facebook.com/groups/441385513073471/

A helpful summary briefing on feral cats…
https://icatcare.org/advice/the-social-structure-of-cat-life/

EPISODE 12

Information on Bear Wood at Wild Place, the location where this podcast episode was recorded. https://wildplace.org.uk/explore-the-park/bear-wood

Details of Beyond Conservation, Peter Taylor’s first book on rewilding.

Details of Rewilding, Peter Taylor’s second book on the topic. https://www.amazon.co.uk/Rewilding-Peter-Taylor/dp/0954706420/ref=pd_bxgy_14_img_2/257-6969756-6584706?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=0954706420&pd_rd_r=babc94f4-d423-4b62-b78b-759969b2fec1&pd_rd_w=ZvU4x&pd_rd_wg=dIwdx&pf_rd_p=6f720012-7a84-4e92-a268-5ba72c1e4b52&pf_rd_r=B0R51C72PKMGHWR7ZBNA&psc=1&refRID=B0R51C72PKMGHWR7ZBNA

Link to the book, Beast in the Garden, on past puma incidents near Boulder, Colorado, as mentioned by Peter and Rick. https://www.beastinthegarden.com

Link to video on the challenge of camera trapping and photographing Eurasian lynx in the Jura mountains of Switzerland and France, where lynx were reintroduced in the early 1970s.
http://www.laurent-geslin.com/videos/

EPISODE 11

This photo of a female puma’s (unsuccessful) attempt at a guanaco in Patagonia resulted from 7 months tracking of pumas on foot by the photographer. Two local trackers helped during this photo as they watched the puma stalk for 30 minutes before the attempted strike.

Photo: Ingo Arndt

BBC Documentary Seven Worlds, One Planet – first and last features show puma’s struggling to predate guanacos. es-1-3-south-america

A male puma (“Florida panther”) in the Everglades Florida. This image from a camera trap took nearly two years to capture.
Florida panthers are at a critically low number of up to 230 at present. Much conservation and planning effort is being invested to help the population reach the desired 600 plus.

Photo: Carlton Ward Jr

Suburban housing in Naples, Florida, encroaching on prime habitat for the endangered Florida panther.

Photo: Carlton Ward Jr

Article on Texas pumas introduced to Florida, to strengthen the Florida panther population. https://phys.org/news/2019-10-texas-puma-florida-panther.html

Video and article on experiment showing pumas fleeing from recorded human voices. https://www.nationalgeographic.com/news/2017/06/california-cougars-fear-human-voices-spd/

EPISODE 10

Web link for Big Cats Victoria, the website co-hosted by our guest Simon Townsend. http://www.bigcatsvic.com.au/

Details of the book jointly authored by Simon, Snarls from the Tea Tree.

Book Launch – “Snarls From the Tea Tree” | Victorian Skeptics — https://www.waterstones.com/book/snarls-from-the-tea-tree/david-waldron/simon-townsend/9781921875830 http://www.bigcatsvic.com.au/own-books/snarls-from-the-tea-tree-david-waldron-simon-townsend

A trailer for the forthcoming documentary on big cats in Australia, The Hunt. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HDoFKaQcXXc

Details of the book Savage Shadow by the late David O’Reilly, as recommended by Simon Townsend and Rick in the second half of Episode 10.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Savage-Shadow-Search-Australian-Cougar/dp/0646553135

The 1972 book by Bruce Wright mentioned by Simon and Rick. It discusses Puma sightings in eastern Canada and north east USA as well as the many credible black Puma sightings in that region.

EPISODE 9

Illustration of a puma stalking a badger as seen by Jonathan, described in the first part of the episode.

Illustration of the two puma kits playing as briefly seen by Jonathan, described in the first half of the episode.

Illustration of close-up black leopard sighting as described by Jonathan in the first half of the episode.

Carcass bones blown down from an oak tree that Jonathan routinely checks, as mentioned in the first part of the episode. A potential scrape from a big cat is also evident at the base of the tree.

The pelvic girdle of a young elk, discovered by Rick in Colorado. The triangular pattern of tooth pits suggests an impact from a puma, as explained in the second half of the episode.

The underside of a puma’s carnassial tooth, showing the three cusps. We look for the impressions of these cusps on bones of suspected prey for tooth pit evidence.

Dr. Andrew Hemmings demonstrating tooth pit analysis to a film crew directed by Mark Fletcher.

EPISODE 8

Matt Everett (our first guest) filming Dr. Andrew Hemmings at the Royal Agricultural University demonstrating tooth-pit analysis.

Title poster for the documentary produced by our first guest Matt Everett.

Link to trailer for Brititain’s Big Cat Mystery, produced by Matt Everett (click “Watch on Vimeo”).

Link to David Neils’ site of Colorado wildlife camera-trap footage and advice. https://vimeo.com/wildnaturemedia

EPISODE 7

Nigel Spencer (our first guest): https://www.facebook.com/rutland.pantherwatch

Emma our second guest retreated from seeing a big black cat eating a rabbit or a hare. When she returned to the exact spot spot with friends she found this depression in the grass where the cat had been lying eating.

Aussie listeners and The Hunt documentary A shout out to our friends from Australia – a big thanks for listening! We plan to cover the parallel issues in Australia in a future episode in an interview with Simon Townsend. We’re looking forward to the forthcoming Australian documentary: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HDoFKaQcXXc