I have seen two rare cats in Mexico. On a trip to Sótano de Trinidad in
the Xilitla area in the early '80s I was hiking with a guide and a couple of
other cavers and we saw a small buff-colored cat the guide called an onza,
which is ounce or lynx in English. Another time in the '80s or '90s I was
driving out of the Purificación mountains from Los San Pedro with Nancy Weaver
and had just passed the last river crossing heading onto the flats when a
jaguarundi crossed the road right in front of the truck. The jaguarundi is a
low, long black cat with a long tail. Very cool.
Although I have never seen a "tigre" (jaguar?) in the El Abra, there are
many stories of them (and a cave named after one), and apparently Geoff Robertson saw one
while he was lost for a few days there in the early '80s. On my very first trip to
northern Mexico in 1968 I climbed up a cliff into a small cave that had lots of bones and
large tracks in it. I think it was a mountain lion den, but fortunately no one was home
to verify that presumption.
Mark Minton
