In 2012, zoologist Peter Menkhorst conducted a study to investigate the claims that large predatory cats inhabit Victoria. This was done to satisfy the many claims of large cat sightings and reports of the animals attacking and eating livestock. Menkhorst concluded that:
“The most parsimonious explanation for many of the reported sightings is that they involve large, feral individuals of the Domestic Cat Felis catus. However, some evidence cannot be dismissed entirely, including preliminary DNA evidence, footprints and some behaviours that seem to be outside the known behavioural repertoire of known predators in Victoria.”
The notion of big cats living in the bush can be traced as far back as the 1870’s and this report shows even now the legend is thriving and can’t be completely subdued. Many people remain convinced that these …show more content…
Many of these poems incorporated bush themes by presenting them is untamed and harsh, while simultaneously romanticising it. For example, the poem The Never-Never Land by Henry Lawson, give an acute representation of how harsh the Australian outback can be. Describing it as a “Wild wastes of scrub and plain”, but also implying that if the Never Never isn’t navigated correctly it can lead to “Mounts Dreadful and despair” . However, the poem also works to glorify the land, declaring that it is “a phantom land, a mystic realm!” These words provoke a fascination with the land. Furthermore the poem suggests that the country has a superiority over the city. In the lines “Lest in the city I forget, true mateship after all” Lawson is implying relationships formed in the outback are more authentic then ones in the city. Which reflects on how the bush is natural but the city is artificially made. This idea of the bush and the rising urban population also plays an important part in the evolution of big cat myths. Which will be unpacked later on in this
“The most parsimonious explanation for many of the reported sightings is that they involve large, feral individuals of the Domestic Cat Felis catus. However, some evidence cannot be dismissed entirely, including preliminary DNA evidence, footprints and some behaviours that seem to be outside the known behavioural repertoire of known predators in Victoria.”
The notion of big cats living in the bush can be traced as far back as the 1870’s and this report shows even now the legend is thriving and can’t be completely subdued. Many people remain convinced that these …show more content…
Many of these poems incorporated bush themes by presenting them is untamed and harsh, while simultaneously romanticising it. For example, the poem The Never-Never Land by Henry Lawson, give an acute representation of how harsh the Australian outback can be. Describing it as a “Wild wastes of scrub and plain”, but also implying that if the Never Never isn’t navigated correctly it can lead to “Mounts Dreadful and despair” . However, the poem also works to glorify the land, declaring that it is “a phantom land, a mystic realm!” These words provoke a fascination with the land. Furthermore the poem suggests that the country has a superiority over the city. In the lines “Lest in the city I forget, true mateship after all” Lawson is implying relationships formed in the outback are more authentic then ones in the city. Which reflects on how the bush is natural but the city is artificially made. This idea of the bush and the rising urban population also plays an important part in the evolution of big cat myths. Which will be unpacked later on in this