|
|
Post by Ian Thomas on Aug 18, 2014 16:21:55 GMT 10
A problem I have with theories about Aussie Big Cats or thylacines is how come there are no road killed big cats lying around on roadsides? Cars take out plenty big cats in India. Roads turn killer for big cats in Karnataka
Aug 5, 2014
timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/environment/flora-fauna/Roads-turn-killer-for-big-cats-in-Karnataka/articleshow/39654430.cms
A recent study conducted by Mysore-based Nature Conservation Society and Panthera in New York has found that between 2009 and 2014, 23 leopards died in road accidents in Karnataka. This boils down to one death in every three months. Also, 19 of the 23 big cats were killed outside protected areas, indicating road ecology in these areas aren't wildlife friendly. |
|
|
|
Post by Harry Hunter on Aug 18, 2014 21:35:48 GMT 10
maybe when one of a pair is injured / killed the mate pulls the injured / killed partner to safety in the bush
|
|
|
|
Post by devildog on Aug 18, 2014 22:02:00 GMT 10
I have wondered also...hhmm - very rare critters live very remotely and have the sense(s) to avoid man-made stuff like roads like the plague (as they should) - there is very very very occasional road kill, but timber-trucks and big rigs obliterate any meaningful remains, then scavengers get a feed - some believe, some wish, some ponder.. and some brave souls get really grubby searching....bless their efforts  |
|
|
|
Post by dennisw on Aug 18, 2014 23:37:58 GMT 10
There have been quite a number of reported sightings on or near roads but the animals get out of the way very quickly, I had a report from the Broadford area about 30 years ago. The witness was heading into work at the paper mill before dawn and as he came around a corner the "panther" was eating an animal on the road and as his lights shone onto the animal it leaped away jumping from the centre of the road over the verge and a 1.2m rabbit fence in a single bound. This witness claimed that the animal could jump further than a kangaroo, and from a standing position.
Two reports locally (some years apart) have described the animal near the road but quickly disappearing into the bush at the first sight of a motor car, all reports are at night supporting my contention that we are dealing with a nocturnal animal. A local employee of the water board was returning home with his wife from a night with friends and the animal was on the road but as the ute approached it took off running alongside the road even when they drew alongside. He suggested to his wife that she could reach out the window and grab it, to which she replied, "You grab it!" In a report from Mt Egerton (near Ballarat) a woman and her 3 children saw a panther cross the road in front of them and stop in a driveway to watch them pass.
If the animal these witnesses are seeing is as I suspect a remnant thylacoleonid then it belongs to the family with the largest brain of any marsupial, it may have enough common sense to keep off the road. The animals are extremely shy but curious and will watch if they think they have not been discovered immediately they suspect you are aware of them they can disappear in the bush surprisingly quickly.
|
|
|
|
Post by nunga on Aug 19, 2014 10:33:08 GMT 10
there are thousands of quolls in australia over 2000 in the blue mountains areas. how many are found as road kill.in the usa not many pumas are kill on the roads maybe if they are being chase by hunting dogs.and is there any numbers on the thylacine being hit by cars in days gone bye, only in modern times i have heared of a few hits on highways and back roads .
|
|
|
|
Post by johannes on Aug 20, 2014 0:38:00 GMT 10
There are Golden Jackals (Canis aureus) in Germany - there is undeniable proof from camera traps, and I was shadowed by one during a walk in the woods in last November - but you never, ever see them as road kill. Probably they are clever enough to avoid cars.
|
|
Thylacoleo Gal
Administrator 
Thylacoleo Gal
The Singularity is near.
Posts: 3,689 
|
Post by Thylacoleo Gal on Aug 20, 2014 7:35:24 GMT 10
Golden Jackals look rather like foxes, don't they?
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Aug 20, 2014 10:12:08 GMT 10
At last some life in the WEB.
We are dealing with the giant Australian wildcat, which I claim has mutated from the African wildcat,
brought to Aust. by Egyptian/Phoenecions in ages past, and has mutated to the size of pumas, an optimun size to handle game found in Australia, kangaroos and more recently sheep and cattle.
These are of the genus F Catus as i proved in 2001 when I came by 2 juveniles and had DNA tests carried out. (See SA wildcat in archives). In case anyone doubts whether I could tell if they were juveniles, the.
mothers were roaring and screaming around my house, as they searched for their cubs.
With over 30 years of experience in close association with these cats I have seen examples where these cats show highly developed abstract thought capability.
Regarding reflexes, one night I was driving between Quorn and Leigh Creek, in N SA when a large cat came sailing across in front of my car. In mid air it swung its tail sideways and did an about turn. landing facing the direction it came from. It then gave another bound jumping over the bonnet and bushes on the side of the road.
I examined the place in daylight, mistakenly thinking that it had jumped off a bank. There was no bank but a clump of bushes, which the cat had cleared then over the level of my csr.
I know this is food for character assination as usual but go ahead, I can take it.
BC
|
|
|
|
Post by observer on Aug 20, 2014 10:48:20 GMT 10
I often think about how many animals our bush land houses and the amount of roadkill you see relative to ANY animal is pretty minimal.
In eastern Victoria I see kangaroos, wallabies, wombats, possums and foxes.
But with huge numbers of all these animals lurking just off the roads, there should be far more.
So an animal that's numbers are significantly lower would be very rare.
I've seen deer around, but never as roadkill?
Their numbers would greatly outweigh thyla or Big Cats.
|
|
|
|
Post by saggitarius on Aug 20, 2014 20:00:05 GMT 10
Unfortunately we had one here the other week where a sambar got shirtfronted by a vehicle which then ran off the road into a tree. We have sambar hit by cars occasionally but considering there are probably 100,000 (conservative estimate) in the Gippsland Alps, obviously most know how to avoid cars.
Most of our roadkill here is not so smart wombats and at the moment foxes are dying in large numbers (saw 6 dead ones in a 220km trip today), probably following the scent of vixens in mating season and not having their mind on the dangers of crossing roads. Grey kangaroos are the next main species killed but only a small number when you consider the number of them we have in the bush and adjacent farmland.
|
|
|
|
Post by johannes on Aug 20, 2014 21:29:52 GMT 10
Thylacoleo_Gal wrote: More like a small wolf or a Belgian Shepherd www.animalspot.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/Golden-jackal-Pictures-300x200.jpg , they are not that much bigger than foxes (between 10-15kg), but have much longer legs, and stand higher at the shoulders; they are built like pursuit predators, not like ambushers or generalists. The colour is different too; yellowish (I guess that is the "golden" part) with some grey accents, the latter vary with season and altitude. In fact, goldie is genetically closer to the grey wolf than to Silverback or Striped Jackals; some have even claimed it's a wolf that was dwarfed because of competition by hyenas, but given the absence of post-Pleistocene hyenas in Europe, that hypothesis makes not much sense IMHO. |
|
|
|
Post by DP on Aug 20, 2014 21:30:29 GMT 10
Unfortunately we had one here the other week where a sambar got shirtfronted by a vehicle which then ran off the road into a tree. We have sambar hit by cars occasionally but considering there are probably 100,000 (conservative estimate) in the Gippsland Alps, obviously most know how to avoid cars. Most of our roadkill here is not so smart wombats and at the moment foxes are dying in large numbers (saw 6 dead ones in a 220km trip today), probably following the scent of vixens in mating season and not having their mind on the dangers of crossing roads. Grey kangaroos are the next main species killed but only a small number when you consider the number of them we have in the bush and adjacent farmland. Numerous Sambar running around the Dandenong Ranges also, I saw two that tangled with cars this week, This one was on the Mt. Dandenong Tourist Road in Tremont. Attachments:
|
|
|
|
Post by dennisw on Aug 21, 2014 0:57:20 GMT 10
Unfortunately we had one here the other week where a sambar got shirtfronted by a vehicle which then ran off the road into a tree. We have sambar hit by cars occasionally but considering there are probably 100,000 (conservative estimate) in the Gippsland Alps, obviously most know how to avoid cars. Most of our roadkill here is not so smart wombats and at the moment foxes are dying in large numbers (saw 6 dead ones in a 220km trip today), probably following the scent of vixens in mating season and not having their mind on the dangers of crossing roads. Grey kangaroos are the next main species killed but only a small number when you consider the number of them we have in the bush and adjacent farmland. Fox road kills are often deliberate, I and many others from farming backgrounds have an instinct to floor the pedal when a fox or rabbit is in range,even to the extent of leaving the bitumen to get the B.....d. P.S. Your avatar looks like a Rabbi I know. |
|
|
|
Post by saggitarius on Aug 21, 2014 8:37:00 GMT 10
. Your avatar looks like a Rabbi I know. Not the first time such a comparison has been drawn but I can assure you I am not related. |
|
|
|
Post by observer on Aug 21, 2014 10:59:23 GMT 10
I spend countless hours in the Dandenong Ranges, only seen 2 deer over my many years.
See them more often out towards Launching Place/Woori Yallock
Strange that I mention it and some turn up right on my doorstep, so to speak
|
|
|
|
Post by DP on Aug 21, 2014 18:57:50 GMT 10
I spend countless hours in the Dandenong Ranges, only seen 2 deer over my many years. See them more often out towards Launching Place/Woori Yallock Strange that I mention it and some turn up right on my doorstep, so to speak Mostly fallow dear my friend, and plenty of them around my place. sambar are a bit harder to spot. I'm often up and out very early in the mornings, I once drove though Olinda pre dawn and there were two of them looking in the shop windows. More recently, my dog was going off like there was somebody that I needed to know about out the front, so I went for a look and there was one looking down my driveway. - David |
|
|
|
Post by Ian Thomas on Aug 22, 2014 22:23:23 GMT 10
Road kill in Africa can be bigger problem than round the Dandy Ranges   |
|
