A long-time (and dear!) reader sent me the photo above, plus he had this story to tell:
"I saw the horse photo and remembered that Pumas can do that too!
I have a cougar story of my own - in 1980 I had a job at the CSU veterinary dept's bull farm. My job title was "public services career trainee", but that translated into ranch hand & roustabout. I found out they had more than cows there when I was sent out to repair a board fence. I was hammering nails into planks out in a remote corner of the place when I heard a noise.
The noise was coming from two cougars who were watching me hammer.
My mind went blank, and my hand let go of the hammer.
The cats didn't move. They just gravely looked me over. I didn't move either.
Their eyes were the size of saucers... After a hundred years or so my eyes began to focus better and I could see that the cats were inside a large chickenwire pen. I hadn't noticed that to begin with but I was relieved to see that. They even had a little hut to hole up in and a bowling ball to play with.
Later, when I asked around, I was told that they were littermates who'd been abandoned, and since no one had any data on how cougars age, the school took them in for study and began taking bone-density, tooth growth and physical measurements on them.
Most likely, those 2 cats were looking at me so intently because they expected to be fed, but I really misinterpreted the whole situation."
#FB00899
If anyone can find another tongue photo to add to my collection, please send it.
Leave it to Randy_B to come through with more examples!
