Something About Texas Black Panthers No Longer Makes Sense

Every week, Texas Parks and Wildlife gets calls about a black panther. A long, dark cat with a tail that seems to go on forever, crossing a county road at dusk. People across East Texas have been telling this story for generations, and many of them are certain of what they saw. Texas once had mountain lions in every part of the state, and jaguars too. Both were hunted out of most of it. Today the state has more than half a million hunters, cameras on feeders everywhere, and sightings that never seem to stop. So what is actually crossing those roads? The answer involves cat genetics, a century of wildlife records, and a small native cat most Texans have never heard of. Have you seen a dark cat you couldn't explain? Tell us your county in the comments, where you saw it, and whether the tail was long or short. #Texas #blackpanther #wildlife #TexasWildlife #bigcats #mountainlion #EastTexas