5 minute freewrite 2791 prompt follow that cat!
This is my post for #freewriters 2791 prompt follow that cat! hosted by @mariannewest
photo copied from https://pixabay.com/photos/search/cougar/
I am writing about the cougar because my husband saw one a block from our house. He said he was sure it was one when he saw it, so when he got home, he looked up photos online and confirmed what he saw was a cougar or panther to most who live in Florida. I asked where it went, and he told me in the woods, he was not going to follow that cat! into the woods.
It is odd to see one in our area, but not unheard of. A few years ago one with a tracking collar crossed the preserve behind my house. That is the only way to follow that cat!,(a tracking device) I could see everywhere it went.
Whatever you want to call them, a cougar, mountain lion, puma, or panther, they are the same cat. If it lives up north, they are called a cougar, to the northwestern states, a mountain lion, and in Florida, they are called a panther. The only place I have heard them called puma is in South America, or for some reason, I am thinking I saw a TV show where the guy was from Arizona and he called them puma, but I could be wrong, or he was from South America.
I do not know why Florida calls them a panther, when I looked it up AI said The term "panther" is not a specific species, but rather a general term used to describe several different types of big cats. "Cougar" is a specific name for the animal also known as mountain lion or puma, primarily found in the Americas. The "panther" label is often applied to black-colored jaguars or leopards, but can also refer to a cougar in some regions, like the Florida panther.
Then I typed in why does Florida call a cougar a panther and basically it was because the name stuck. In Florida, the term "panther" is used to refer to the cougar, also known as a mountain lion or puma, due to a historical misnomer and the state's official designation of the animal as the "Florida panther". While "panther" generally refers to melanistic (black) jaguars or leopards, the Florida panther is a subspecies of the cougar and is tawny-brown in color. The name "Florida panther" stuck, despite the animal not being a true panther in the zoological sense.
Leave it to Floriduh to give something a name that does not pertain to it, because the powers that be liked the sound of Florida panther, so it stuck. They are not even black.
FloriDUH ... I laughed so hard at the end of this -- that was so perfect!
I made you laugh, your comment made my day.
You really are a good writer -- the way you set that up after explaining all of the reasons FloriDUH gets the DUH was perfect!
Thank you.
Didn't know this about panthers. Good to know, just in case I encounter one. :-)
!BBH
I hope you never encounter one, and the same goes for me.
There are frequent sightings of mountain lions here in the mountains of the Pacific northwest. Trail cameras see things at night. I carry a gun in the woods because of the wildlife. Generally, there's enough prey for the bears and cougars and wolves. They usually leave people alone and avoid populated areas. But precautions are a good idea.
There are a lot of them in the Everglades, where there is no development, but to have one 200 miles north and on the coast, where it is populated, is strange. After writing this last night, I was reading posts from my town, and people have been seeing it in my area and another one 20 miles away, or that could have been the same one.
I, too, got a good laugh out of Floriduh! I remember in the Laura Ingalls Wilder books her father tells about being chased by a panther. He grew up in New York state, so maybe at that time and in that place that's what they were called.
panthers is looking good and nice photo
It is not my picture of the panther, I copied it from https://pixabay.com/
@myjob, I paid out 0.101 HIVE and 0.022 HBD to reward 3 comments in this discussion thread.