(Photo courtesy Valerie Abbott)

Cougar (Puma concolor), including black panthers, are fairly commonly seen in Illinois.  I am assuming black panthers are a melanistic color phase of the cougar. My purpose here is not to delve into the political aspects of these wonderful animals but provide information about possible misidentification of their vocalizations.

There is something in the woods of Illinois that screams. What that animal is can only be sorted out by comparing recordings with known animals. Although I have had four sightings of cougar in Central Illinois,  I have yet to get a good recording.

For  a previous post about cougar please see: Big Cat Crossing

Other articles concerning Illinois cougars include:

Cougar Watch

The beast of the bluffs.

Wildcat scare keeps Palmyra pupils inside / DNR officials doubt it

I am doing recordings in several areas with frequent cougar sightings so I hope to have sound files of these large cats posted soon.

Copyright 2004-2010 by Stan Courtney. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without permission is prohibited.