I know Nick's keen to track down a big cat so thought he might like this story from Meridian and WestCountry ITV this week..

Proof that 'big cats' existed

The rediscovery of a mystery animal in Bristol museum’s underground storeroom proves that a non-native ‘big cat’ prowled the British countryside at the turn of the last century.

9:01 am, Thu 25 Apr 2013
Meridian

Scientists prove that 'big cats' roamed the countryside

The Canadian Lynx was discovered in Bristol Museum's storeroom Credit: Southampton University

The rediscovery of a mystery animal in a museum’s underground storeroom proves that a non-native ‘big cat’ prowled the British countryside at the turn of the last century.

The animal’s skeleton and mounted skin was analysed by a multi-disciplinary team of scientists and researchers at Southampton, Durham, Bristol, and Aberystwyth universities and found to be a Canadian lynx – a carnivorous predator more than twice the size of a domestic cat.

The research, published today in the academic journal Historical Biology, establishes the animal as the earliest example of an “alien big cat” at large in the British countryside.

• UK
• Big Cats
• lynx

6:50pm, Thu 25 Apr 2013

New evidence for the Beast of Bodmin?

Last updated Thu 25 Apr 2013

• UK
• Beast of Bodmin
• lynx
• Big Cats