The non existant EASTERN cougar Debate over too IP: 50.204.144.106 Posted on February 11, 2015 at 02:21:22 PM by weather01089
There was in the long past, (1800s), a subspecies of cougar named "eastern cougar". At the time they really had no way to determine if it really was a subspecies. So now, its extinct allegedly. However, it turns out DNA has confirmed, there never really was an "eastern cougar".
From that last post (Canada) "The analysis of three mitochondrial genes revealed that it is impossible to distinguish the Eastern Cougar from other North American Cougars (Culver et al. 2000). In other words, all North American Cougars are the same subspecies, Puma concolor couguar. Here, we follow this recommendation and consider North American Cougars as a single subspecies (see also Wilson and Reeder 2005)"
Why is this significant? Cougars are being killed in various states down South where they are being found under the guise that they are "exotic", because the Eastern Cougar is extinct! (West Virginia). Replies:
(no subject) - By russFebruary 11, 2015 at 07:22:26 PM