A big cat is beautiful to behold

[TexasTowelie]

I walked into the Normanna Post Office a few months ago, and someone there showed me a photo from a game camera that he says was of a Mountain Lion. The picture was not great, so I squinted and rotated his smart phone to new angles. I could not convince myself it was really a Mountain Lion. Only its hindquarters and tail were visible, and to my eye, it could have been a big dog. I still think about that photo, and I hope it really was a Mountain Lion living only a few miles from our home. Knowing that it could have been one makes me proud to be a Texan. Of course, the photo shown here is certainly a Mountain Lion captured with a game camera, but not from our part of Texas. What a beautiful animal!

Actually, there are too many words in that sentence above. I think it ought to read: “A cat is beautiful to behold.” I agree with Leonardo da Vinci’s statement: “The smallest feline is a masterpiece.” Big or small, felines are beautiful creations.

Although I like looking at all cats, seeing a native cat in the wild is especially thrilling. I remember every bobcat sighting I have ever had. I treasure the single sighting I have had of a Mountain Lion.

It happened in South Texas. We were birding on the Laguna Atascosa National Wildlife Refuge a few years ago. Suddenly, on the road in front of our van, a big, brown cat appeared. Two half-grown kittens joined her. The kittens gamboled and wrestled with each other as they crossed the road. “Mama” sat down on the road for a moment as the kittens played and re-entered the brush. She looked weary; I think those kittens were wearing her out! She got up and followed the kittens. My last sight was of her long round tail slowly disappearing into the brush.

The whole episode lasted only a few seconds. My husband did not see the cats (he was watching a falcon in the sky). I could scarcely believe what I had seen, except that the observation had taken my breath away. I had seen Mountain Lions in the wild!

Read more: http://mysoutex.com/view/full_story_progress/27327385/article-A-big-cat-is-beautiful-to-behold?instance=local_area

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

1. Beautiful! Cats are magnificent.

[Lithos]

2. I remember...

Many, many years ago, I worked out at City Park in Austin (now called Emma Long) which is located in Far West Austin bordering Lake Austin. I had shutdown the park, run curfew and had tallied up all the receipts for the day, so it was about midnight as I headed out. I was driving up to the gate which blocked the lower half of the park and was navigating a set of twisty turns when a very large figure jumped out across the road in front of me heading left to right. A little shorter than a deer, but with a distinctive long, thin tail. Definitely not a dog, as I remember how the tail held steady as this animal ran across my lights. Beautiful, simply beautiful.

I had not heard of any Mountain Lions in Travis County for years, so i took it as a sign of luck.

L-

[niyad]

3. Lady Bast is pleased with your sentiment.

we have mountain lions around here, freaks some people out.

[Auntie Bush]

4. Eliminate the head and it could easily be mistaken for a dog.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

5. But then it would be a headless dog.

Actually, if you saw it walk you'd know it was a cat - the gait is totally different and very un-doglike.

[TexasProgresive]

6. Last week I had a close encounter with a half grown bobcat

It was late afternoon. I was sitting at my desk which faces a window view of my front yard. One of my cats leaped off the porch running straight for the gate and the road. We discourage our kitties from that kind of dangerous behavior. So I hauled my dead ass out the door.

Leo had not gone to the road but turned in just prior into a dewberry bramble. He was starring hard at another cat. This cat was beautiful but too big for Leo to mess with. It was just sitting there as if convinced no one could see him. Finally it turned and left showing his bob tail. The cat might've been 25 pounds to Leo's 15.

I wish I had my phone with me to take a pic. I was only about 15 feet from this beautiful animal.

[TexasTowelie]

7. That's why the photos are so rare.

The big cats show up when you least expect them.

Merry Christmas to you, my friend.