If you were Registered and logged in, you could reply and use other advanced thread options
|
Posted by on July 3, 2008, 3:02 am
On Thu, 03 Jul 2008 06:41:26 GMT, langkd_NO_SPAM@shaw.ca (Road Glidin'
Don) wrote:
>
>>Lions and tigers and bears, oh my! Two dirt bikers encountered
>>a mountain lion in a wilderness area on northern Vancouver Island,
>>BC Canada and here's what happened:
>>
>>http://www.bclocalnews.com/vancouver_island_north/northislandgazette/news/20426999.html
>
>What a coincidence. A cougar tried to corner me by the campfire last
>weekend, at the Toad Rock rally.
>
>Then Gladys came by and handed me a coffee...
Hardley believable :-)
--
Click here every day to feed an animal that needs you today !!!
www.theanimalrescuesite.com/
Paul ( pjm @ pobox . com ) - remove spaces to email me
'Some days, it's just not worth chewing through the restraints.'
'With sufficient thrust, pigs fly just fine.'
HVAC/R program for Palm PDA's
Free demo online at www.pmilligan.net/palm/
Free 'People finder' program now at www.pmilligan.net/finder.htm
|
|
Posted by Road Glidin' Don on July 3, 2008, 1:08 pm
On Jul 3, 1:02=A0am, .p.jm@see_my_sig_for_address.com wrote:
> On Thu, 03 Jul 2008 06:41:26 GMT, langkd_NO_S...@shaw.ca (Road Glidin'
>
> Don) wrote:
>
> >>Lions and tigers and bears, oh my! Two dirt bikers encountered
> >>a mountain lion in a wilderness area on northern Vancouver Island,
> >>BC Canada and here's what happened:
>
> >>http://www.bclocalnews.com/vancouver_island_north/northislandgazette/..=
.
>
> >What a coincidence. =A0A cougar tried to corner me by the campfire last
> >weekend, at the Toad Rock rally.
>
> >Then Gladys came by and handed me a coffee...
>
> =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 Hardley believable :-)
Well, I wasn't in the clearest state of mind at the time...
But I'm quite sure she was intending to eat me. ;)
|
|
Posted by David T. Ashley on July 3, 2008, 11:24 am
> Lions and tigers and bears, oh my! Two dirt bikers encountered
> a mountain lion in a wilderness area on northern Vancouver Island,
> BC Canada and here's what happened:
>
>
http://www.bclocalnews.com/vancouver_island_north/northislandgazette/news/20426999.html
I remember in California a few years back a big cat killed and began
munching on an 18-year-old male mountain biker. I've gotta assume that your
typical 18/M mountain biker isn't that easy of a prey as far as humans go.
http://tchester.org/sgm/lists/lion_attacks.html
http://tchester.org/sgm/lists/lion_attacks_ca.html
Chasing dirt bikes doesn't surprise me.
Sometimes when I play with my housecats I reflect on how evolutionarily well
adapted as predators they are. They weigh just under 10 lbs. They would
probably be a mortal threat to me if I weighed less than, say, 40 lbs. or
so.
A mountain lion is definitely a mortal threat. Those are the real deal.
They rarely attack humans, but when they do ...
Those are tough critters.
|
|
Posted by Road Glidin' Don on July 3, 2008, 11:46 am
> A mountain lion is definitely a mortal threat. =A0Those are the real deal=
.
> They rarely attack humans, but when they do ...
>
> Those are tough critters.
Not really. They tend to break off the attack if the victim puts up a
fight. Unlike curling up and weathering a bear attack, with cougars
you have to do the opposite.
|
|
Posted by David T. Ashley on July 3, 2008, 1:27 pm
>> A mountain lion is definitely a mortal threat. Those are the real deal.
>> They rarely attack humans, but when they do ...
>>
>> Those are tough critters.
>
>Not really. They tend to break off the attack if the victim puts up a
>fight.
You are correct, but that isn't the best measure of toughness.
Cats tend to break off an attack when the attack doesn't fit the profile.
When a prey animal fights back in a meaningful way ... that is out of
profile and they will often find prey that behaves more like prey.
Evolutionarily, an "out of profile" attack probably represents increased
risk of injury to the cat or the belief by the intended prey that more prey
are coming to help (as would generally be the case with humans).
Instinctively, the cat will break it off.
However, I would suspect there are exceptions. The exceptions would be if
(a) the animal is hungry enough and feels it just has to eat, so it will
take more risk, (b) there are cubs involved, and/or (c) the animal has
preyed on humans before and is more comfortable with it.
I agree with your assessment of the behavior, but I don't think it means
that the animals aren't tough. They are breaking off an attack out of
convenience. Sharks do the same thing. A prey that might to the shark
injury isn't worth the risk.
I think if the mountain lion _really_ wants you, as might happen in case
(b), you are in serious trouble.
>Unlike curling up and weathering a bear attack, with cougars
>you have to do the opposite.
That is misleading. I think the essential element is that cats almost never
attack strictly to defend territory, whereas bears do. That is why with
_most_ bear attacks it is better to play dead.
Every attack by a cat is a predatory attack, so you'd best fight for your
life.
With a bear, there are two modes of attack. One is the "teach this moron a
lesson" mode, in which case playing dead is the best strategy.
The second mode, however, is where the bear is exploring the human as a prey
item. In this case, I believe the recommended strategy is to fight for your
life. I don't remember the details, but I think any of the following are
indications that is probably a predatory attack:
a)It is a black bear (which almost never do the territory thing with
humans).
b)The attack is preceded by stalking (rather than a surprise encounter with
the bear).
c)The attack is at night and/or involves invading a tent.
At this site, for example:
http://www.udap.com/safety.htm
they hint that there is a difference between territorial and predatory
attacks.
I think the issue is that cats don't have a "teach this moron a lesson" mode
of attack. It is all with intent to kill (unlike a bear).
I have no exposure to wildlife, so I could be spouting pure rubbish. The
closest things I have to wildlife eat canned cat food ...
|
Page 3 of 6 < 1 2 3 > last >>
| Similar Threads | Posted | | Re: Motorcycle chases! | January 22, 2008, 1:44 pm |
| Re: Motorcycle chases! | January 22, 2008, 2:30 pm |
| Re: Motorcycle chases! | January 22, 2008, 7:34 pm |
| Re: Motorcycle chases! | January 22, 2008, 10:13 pm |
| Re: Motorcycle chases! | January 23, 2008, 11:17 am |
| OT - movie car chases | November 1, 2008, 6:52 pm |
| Dirt Trucks | May 26, 2008, 4:00 pm |
| Any tips on dirt riding? | February 3, 2008, 11:29 pm |
| Royal dirt bikers | October 23, 2008, 9:32 pm |
| Please opine on dirt cheap tankbags | February 26, 2008, 4:59 pm |
|
|
Yahoo! 
Google 
Windows Live 
del.icio.us 
digg 
Netscape 
XML Sitemap