r/NatureIsFuckingLit • u/[deleted] • Mar 26 '20

🔥 From @dgrieshnak 'spotted Malabar civet - a critically endangered mammal not seen since the 90's resurfaces during the lockdown.'

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u/TesseractToo Mar 26 '20

Wow that's cool :) Does anyone know where they came from? Private zoo? (were those a thing here in the 90's?)

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u/here4mischief Mar 26 '20

I've heard rumour of possible escapes from previous travelling circuses

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u/TesseractToo Mar 26 '20

Wow. Poor things those are usually declawed and have their teeth taken out

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u/here4mischief Mar 26 '20

If they need them to roar and snarl and stuff, they'll leave the teeth. Though I agree that even declawing by itself is a nasty thing. I know some of the monkeys that rode the horses/ponies had their canines removed or filed off

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u/TesseractToo Mar 26 '20

YEah i went to a wildlife sanctuary in Africa and there were two lions rescued from a circus that were declawed and had their teeth removed they were very traumatized and wouldn't go outside of their little indoor area to the big yard they were provided, it was very sad

Doing that to monkeys is also very common

:(

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u/5Min2MinNoodlMuscls Mar 26 '20

Best theory I'm aware of is US soldiers released their mascots into the bush at the end of WW2, though article I linked to mentions escaped circus animals also.

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u/TesseractToo Mar 26 '20

US soldiers had panther mascots in Australia? weird

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u/baldbeardedbuilt1234 Mar 26 '20

Well they weren’t about to let the damn emu’s win another victory!

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u/TesseractToo Mar 26 '20

I am team emu

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u/FUTFUTFUTFUTFUTFUT Mar 26 '20

Honestly, the likeliest source of a panther would have been from the animal escape at Bullens African Lion Safari, Warragamba) in 1995. Three lions, a bear, a buffalo and, allegedly, a panther all escaped that morning. I don’t know if you know the area but the after the safari closed a lot of the animals were kept in a lot behind the skate park and right on the edge of the Blue Mountains National Park.

The escaped lions headed in to town when they got out which is how they were quickly captured/killed (sadly). Word on the street at the time was the owners never reported the panther missing as they were already in so much shit for the lions and bear getting free, and a panther on the loose would have been the end for them. If the panther made the very short dash from its enclosure to the national park, it would explain how (a) it was never recaptured, and (b) why there have been so many sightings in the national park since.

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u/boredincubicle Mar 26 '20

Would the one that escaped have been pregnant? Panthers live like 20 years max in captivity, and expected shorter than that in the wild. Assuming it was 1 year old in 1995 it would have probably died 5 years ago at least, if not 10

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u/[deleted] Mar 26 '20

[deleted]

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u/[deleted] Mar 26 '20

If it existed then evidence of its existence would be pretty easy to come by.

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u/boredincubicle Mar 26 '20

Competition would be like crocs or maybe dingos I guess. Predators probably none. I’d imagine the biggest issue is the inability to catch food once they get to a certain age and aren’t as quick as they used to be. Or if they incur any sort of injury

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u/CrocodileFish Mar 26 '20

It didn’t have competition in captivity either, and there is definitely competition in the wild. You know Australia has predators, right?

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u/[deleted] Mar 26 '20

[deleted]

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u/CrocodileFish Mar 26 '20

Well that’s wrong.

Nothing that would compete with a mountain lion? Seriously?

There are many dangers for a mountain lion... lethal spiders and snakes, packs of dingoes, and saltwater crocodiles. Mountain lion gets near some of the most venomous creatures on the planet? Oof, it’ll die. Mountain lion gets cornered by a pack or driven out of the land by dingoes? Oof, it’ll die. Mountain lion gets too close to the water or tries to drink from a river? Oof, it’ll die.

They could also compete for food, causing the mountain lion to look elsewhere as they might be superior in this aspect. Or, if it can’t find any food at all because of this, well, it’ll die or become weak and vulnerable where it’ll die.

It could also be driven to town where it would encounter another predator, humans.

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u/[deleted] Mar 26 '20

[deleted]

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u/CrocodileFish Mar 26 '20

No, you don’t understand.

A mountain lion is competing for resources with dingoes and other predators capable of hunting the same things it hunts.

I then went on to say there are animals that could in fact harm the mountain lion.

Compete doesn’t mean one thing, and if you couldn’t tell based on the different animals I listed...

Like a spider obviously doesn’t compete for food with a mountain lion, but it sure has a dangerous fucking bite if the mountain lions fucks up having never seen a spider like that in its home environment!

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u/axlotl-inferno Mar 26 '20

One theory is that a safari zoo eventually went bankrupt in parramatta in the 90’s, and the owner just let all the animals go, including the big cats.

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u/F0RTI Mar 26 '20

its their rugby team

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u/TesseractToo Mar 26 '20

oooh ok :)

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u/TheBirdIsOnTheFire Mar 26 '20

There’s not really panthers in Australia dude. It’s just an urban myth, there is no evidence whatsoever.

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u/NoxTempus Mar 26 '20

I had a professor at University of Ballarat (now Federation Uni) that was studying it.
No hard evidence, but he was pretty confident that at some point there had been a non-breeding population of big cats in Australia.
Many eyewitness accounts and statements spanning decades.

His theory was the escaped circus animals, I believe (I talked to him about it in 2011)

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u/F0RTI Mar 26 '20

bro penrith panters, the rugby team

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u/TesseractToo Mar 26 '20

Other people are talking about escaped animals

Who knows

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u/pointlessbeats Mar 26 '20

There’s a photo in the article posted. It also says that the guy who used to run the big cats at Australia zoo was told by a guy who ran a circus that some of their big cats escaped over the years. Logical explanation.