Onza, the mysterious cat in the world

Onza mysterious cat is the most famous in Mexico as he says - lives in the western chain of mountains Sierra Madea. Zoologists are still bound to give him formal recognition, yet its existence seem to be beyond doubt.
Feline-looking wolf
Onza Aztecs (or cuitlamiztli, as she called it) was an animal distinct from two other feline, puma and jaguar, which shared environment. After the arrival of Spanish conquerors, they asked the king to show his great Montezuma zoo. In this garden, see Bernal Diaz del Castilio be found "tiger [jaguar] and lions [Puma] two ways, one of which resembles the wolf."
Cat attacking people gulp
Spanish immigrants who later settled in northwestern Mexico have noted the presence of a feline in the wild wolf-looking - with long ears, body lean and long and thin with long legs and they named it onza, after the Latin uncia, referring to the quote from Asia or Africa. They also noted the ferocity of the beast. Jgnaz Father Pfefferkorn, a Jesuit missionary set in Sonora, wrote in 1757: "She's not shy [panther], and whoever dares to attack, you must be very careful." Father Johann Baegert, who lived with Indians Guaricura in Baja California, in the middle of the eighteenth century, says: "A onza dared to break into my neighbor's mission that I was visiting. The beast attacked a 14-year-old boy in broad daylight, almost in sight of all. And a few years ago such a beast killed the most powerful and respected soldier in the region. "
The expedition in which he caught a onza
In addition to its area, onza is almost unknown. Sporadic references about her were impressed by anybody, and zoologists have continued to assume that there lived only puma and jaguar. There has been no organized scientific expedition to explore the serious wild with her land in many places inaccessible even for horses, in order to elucidate the problem. Only after 1930, two experienced guides who were involved in hunting in the mountains - Dale and Clell Lee - have first heard about onza when they were in the mountains of Sonora. In time, they moved their operational scope Sinaloa, 500 miles to the south. They accompanied him Joseph H. Shirk, banker originally from Indiana, who wanted to hunt jaguars in the mountains rich in wild game of all kinds. Here they killed a cat and realized immediately that it was a puma. Actually looks exactly like a native onza which claimed that dwells in the region. Once you have it photographed and measured the animal slaughtered, Shirk and keeping skin and skull. Nobody knows where they are now the trophies.

 Convinced that they had stumbled across something important of the two guides described the American zoologists beast that had killed and were surprised that their stories have been circulated among scientists. These accounts have been taken but the press ridiculed the story. Conservative and suspicious by nature, are unusual to question the word, the two brothers Dale and Clell Lee withdrew in themselves and have never discussed the chance that participated. They were silent until 1950, when Robert Marshall as Arizona State, became friends with Dale Lee - in sympathy - stories recorded statements. Marshall then went to Mexico and even conducted research in the field and recorded their results in a book entitled Onza, published in 1961, except for a single review (bad) made a scientific journal, has not enjoyed to no attention.
Criptozoologii analyze onza
In 1982, the meeting of the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, D. C, was established by the International Society cryptozoologists (SI C). For the first time scientists and biologists in general and in particular had a body that could investigate problems with the animals unknown, unrecognized or controversial. Criptozoologii were among the few residents of northwest Mexico who heard the onza.
J. Richard Greenwell, secretary and C, who lived in Tucson, found that Robert Marshall lived in the same city, was casual in the same locality and Dale Lee. Marshall holds a skull and gave onza Greenwell mold top row of teeth. Greenwell, in turn, showed the mold of a West German specialist in mammals, Helmut Hemmer, who had advanced the idea that the animal was called onza prehistoric relic cite some species of North America (Arcinonyx Truman). This event but was eliminated after comparing the skulls, but the mere fact that the end is engendered a discussion on this theme was an indication that onza will eventually get the attention they deserve.
Running after skulls onza
Parallel efforts neîncununate success, to pick out "Shirk skull, which had disappeared long ago, Marshall Greenwell, and have coordinated their efforts with two specialists in mammals, and Bert E. Troy Cockrum Lendell the University of New Mexico University of Arizona respectively. Through Cockrum they had met in Sinaloa, the state of New Mexico, the forester Ricardo Urquijo jr. which was in possession of an intact skull onza forester killed by another, Jesus Vega, in the same area where two other skulls were obtained onza. Meanwhile, Best, a leading authority on mountain lion skulls, discovered another skull onza the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia.
Hunting a onza 1986
On the night of January 1, 1986, at 22.30, two deer hunters in the district of San Ignacio in the land Silano, shot a large beast. It was clear that the beast was not shot down a jaguar, and the hunters had no idea what could be. They have noted that two months ago gringo (Greenwell and Marshall) strongly evident interest in a strange beast in a discussion with a ranger friend had alerted him and Manuel Vega. This, as he saw the slain beast has admitted he was a onza. Vega's father once hunted a onza.
Urquijo With rich families (one of its members had lent them Cockrum's "skull Vega) corpse was preserved in a freezer fishing companies Mazatlan private, then announced Greenwell. Greenwell and Best were photographed and carcass dissection proceeded to the Regional Diagnostic Laboratory and Animal Pathology, an agency of the Ministry of Agriculture of Mexico. Greenwell wrote:
Description of a ONZE
"After I researched, I found that cat, a female, much like the descriptions made by the local population. He had a very graceful body with long legs, slender and long tail. The ears were too long for a puma (about 100 mm). In the inside of the front legs have been discovered some bands that, as far as is known so far, there is the puma. Mothers had well-developed and that age was at least four years. Weighed about 27 pounds. (Before being frozen probably weighed more), compared with the adult female cougar, which weighs between 36 and 60 kg. Its length - 186 cm - is comparable to female cougar, which measures between 150 and 233 cm. Yet tail, which measure 73 cm, was very long compared to the puma tail female, measuring 53 cm to 81 cm. "
Different organ and tissue samples were sent to the U.S. for analysis. Unfortunately, in the years that followed were intended Greenwell and Best assiduously problems, relying on the lack of time and most important concerns. A preliminary comparison of tissue samples taken from the cougar and onza, conducted at Texas Technical University, showed great similarities and differences insignificant. But analysts have prepared a technical report. In any case, can not draw a conclusion after a single test animal since different species often are very close genetically.
Conclusion uncertain: a new species or a local genetic freak?
The samples, kept frozen below will still be studied with great firmness before scientists can decide whether the animal is a new species or just a local genetic freak. Existing evidence until now to make plausible likelihood that the beginning and it's unfortunate that the issue is stalled in mid-1992.
According to a report in 1986, rangers were able to capture alive a onza in northern Sonora, on the border with Arizona. They kept alive a few days, seeking to capture the interest of the authorities to investigate. Finally, seeing that no one interested in hunters who killed the beast seized her and threw her corpse in a dry river bed.