A uncommon “pumapard” huge cat might be stalking Britain, a path digicam {photograph} uncovered by filmmakers suggests.
The giant feline was snapped within the Kent countryside and specialists have stated its neck muscle, ear form and tail shouldn’t be that of a home cat.
It is believed the animal within the picture might be a cross between a leopard and a puma or cougar – also called a pumapard – and might be the latest proof of massive cats within the UK.
The picture, taken in 2013, has been unearthed by makers of the brand new documentary, Panthera Britannia Declassified.
Dimensions recommend it’s ‘not domesticated’
Prof Andrew Hemmings, of the Royal Agricultural University in Cirencester, stated the scale of the animal recommend it isn’t a home cat, and one clarification might be that leopard-sized species have turn out to be smaller over generations.
He stated: “The developed neck musculature and curvature of the tail each recommend one thing apart from Felis Catus.
“Scaling is troublesome however this doesn’t look like of grownup leopard dimension.
‘‘It is however entirely plausible that populations of leopard-sized felids could have become smaller over multiple generations, maybe in response to natural genetic selection imposed by a prey-base of smaller animals such as rabbits.
‘‘It would make good evolutionary sense to adapt to a plentiful, low-risk species such as the rabbit.”
Both male cougar with female leopard and male leopard with female cougar pairings have produced offspring, and these hybrids have, in general, exhibited a tendency to dwarfism.
One theory of how big cats arrived in Britain is the unregulated exotic pet trade of the last days of the British Empire.
Leopards were imported from Africa and Asia and pumas and cougars from the Americas, and experts believe both species may have been released into the countryside.
Ear shape the ‘big giveaway’
Sarah Hartwell, the proprietor of web site MessyBeast, stated: ‘‘The puma and leopard hybrids were smaller than either parent, but most seemed to have died as juveniles so we don’t know their ultimate dimension.
“The ear shape is the big giveaway. Big cats all have rounded ears.
‘‘Domestics (and their relatives in the Lybica family) have triangular ears – wide at the base and narrowing at the tip.”
James Fay, star of Animal Planet’s TV sequence Finding Bigfoot, agrees with Prof. Hemmings: “I’ve seen four mountain lions in the past month. I see them all the time in California.
“It possesses characteristics associated with the North American cougar. It’s definitely not a bobcat.
“The tail looks cougar-like to me and it seems more muscular than a domestic cat, but my overall impression is that I’m looking at a large domestic-dominant hybrid.”
Kevin Steele, a giant cat researcher who runs the Real Big Cats in Kent Facebook group, stated: “There have been numerous sightings of big cats in Kent now over several decades.
“I know the location where the photo was taken and sightings are reported from that area quite often.”
