3 ms·

Wouldn't they have immediately recognised a mountain lion as some sort of big cat?

• axaxs 6y ago
  Perhaps. I'm not well versed in education of the times, so take with a grain of salt. As far as I know, there are no big cats native to France, so it's likely they didn't know such a thing existed, or what it looked like. In rural Kentucky when I was a younger, there were a string of cow killings in the area. Some farmers said it was a wolf or large coyote, but they didn't get a great look. One farmer called a trapper to kill it, and it was finally killed. It turned out to be a mountain lion. These farmers didn't even know they were in the area(they aren't supposed to be, in fairness). And this was in the information age.
  • MayeulC 6y ago
    Well, Lynx are a native species of big cats :)
    • axaxs 6y ago
      I stand corrected, thanks!
  • Udik 6y ago
    > there are no big cats native to France I didn't mean a big feline. I meant literally a big cat. Something with a head that looks remarkably more similar to that of a domestic cat rather than a dog's.
    • axaxs 6y ago
      Understood. Mountain Lions are kinda weird, they tend to have an elongated snout. They do resemble cats, mainly in the eyes, but could easily be mistaken for.. something else. Here's a picture I found to showcase that a bit, I wouldn't personally think it looks much catlike. YMMV. https://cbsnews1.cbsistatic.com/hub/i/2016/11/29/23b79701-c4d2-4448-b292-3f80c428fb58/p45-mountain-lion.jpg https://cbsnews1.cbsistatic.com/hub/i/2016/11/29/23b79701-c4...