r/animalid 🦦 Mustelid Enthusiast 🦡 Oct 03 '24

All of these are bobcats

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u/Daniecae-Media Oct 03 '24

It’s funny seeing the Iowa one as a NE Iowa native and thinking about the times people have claimed to see cougars on that side of the state.

Very rarely will cougars make it to the west side of the state, but I think it’s pretty much unheard of them to venture out towards the Mississippi. But if I just caught that guy out of the corner of my eye while driving, I would probably think cougar before bob cat to.

Also, I want a pokemon based on the bobcat with variants just like this.

1

u/iseethefire Nov 25 '24

Why would there not be cougars in that part of the state?

1

u/Daniecae-Media Nov 25 '24 edited Nov 25 '24

They just generally don’t range in East Iowa, I don’t think there’s been a verified sighting east of Des Moines in several decades. According to the DNR most of the cougars that end up in the state come from Nebraska by way of the Dakotas and Wyoming. So it’s pretty far for a cougar to walk.

Most large predators (other than Coyotes or Bob Cats) that end up in East Iowa are black bears and grey wolves and they come down from WI or MN, and when they’re sited it’s usually headline news because of how rare it is.

Edit: I would also add that there just isn’t a lot of habitat that would be appealing to a cougar either. There isn’t a lot of densely packed areas with trees, or rocky hills. Just a lot of corn fields, and small lakes and creeks.