(01-03-2019, 08:26 AM)-JKP- wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.
There's also no proof that these are Louisiana swamps. Even if it's a swamp, there are swamps everywhere.
Yes, you're right. Those swamps could have been located anywhere around the Gulf of Mexico or nearby where spotted jaguars roamed.
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In the Middle Ages, there were numerous species of spotted cats in Africa and around the Mediterranean region (there even used to be lions, rhinos and giraffes right up through the Levant and towards the Caucasus in older times, but climate change and human incursion have greatly reduced their numbers and their habitat).
In the Middle Ages, most of the wealthier nobility had spotted cats in their menageries. The leopard, for example, is frequently depicted in medieval manuscripts, and some drawings look like they might be cheetahs. They also knew wild cats (the small ones), lynxes and caracels (lions and some caracels are spotted when they are younger and there are even some lions that retain their spots as they get older, although they are fairly rare).
Spotted cats are not limited to the Gulf of Mexico.
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So you think one of the pond critters is a spotted cat?
If you are talking about the pond critter with a single row of spots, it looks more like a salamander or lizard than a cat.
Look at it. How could you possibly identify this as a jaguar??
It has a long skinny nose, a long skinny body, and no external ears. It does NOT look like any kind of cat.
It looks like a typical medieval lizard or salamander with a single line of spots and a flower-tail (a common style of decorative tail that was popular in the Middle Ages). It might be the famous medieval "fire salamander". Here is a pic of a spotted salamander (it has a long tail):
Photo credit: World Animal Foundation.
I'm not certain that it is a lizard or salamander (it might be an imaginary animal), but the VMS drawing does NOT look like a cat. There are no cats with long noses, missing ears, and a single row of spots.