Appearance of black bobcats in New Brunswick puzzles biologist

A New Brunswick biologist says he can't explain why New Brunswick appears to be one of just two places in the world where pure black bobcats have been found.

Last Sunday, amelanistic bobcat was found dead in a trapper's snare nearCocagne, the third such animal ever found in New Brunswick.

Florida is the only other place therarefelines have been reported.

"The obvious question is why Florida and New Brunswick?"DonaldMcAlpine, theresearchcurator and head of zoology at the New Brunswick Museum, wrote in anemail.

"I don't have a good answer for that. I can't see anyecological or environmental reason it should be more prevalent in Florida and New Brunswickover other jurisdictions."

McAlpinesays it may simply be that melanisticcats are not being observed andrecordedin other areas.

"Another possibility isthe random appearance and persistence of this genetic mutation in the two localities," McAlpinesaid.

"My guess is that melanistic bobcats probably have appeared elsewhere from time to time but have not beenreported, forwhatever reason."

Melanistic animals have a genetic trait that causes their skin pigment to be expressed completely black. It is regarded as the opposite of albinism, where pigment is notexpressedat all and animals appearcompletelywhite.

McAlpineconfirmed Thursdaythat the bobcat snared on Christmas Day was the third such animal ever found in New Brunswick.

A paper he co-authoredin1995withJayTischendorf,"AMelanistic Bobcat from Outside Florida," statedthe onlyother case ofmelanismfound in aCanadian bobcat was in amale juveniletrapped inNovember 1983.

But another animal foundinGaspereauForkswas obtained by the New BrunswickMuseumin 2013.McAlpineconfirmed that nothing had been publishedabout the 2013 animal.

"This second record is represented by a specimen (skin, skeleton, driedtissue, frozentissue) in the [museum] collection," wroteMcAlpine.

Only 10 other melanistic bobcats have been reported, all in Florida.

TrapperOswaldMcFaddentold CBC News he is considering giving the animal to the New Brunswick Museum.He has been offered cash and hunting trips for thebody of the cat he found in the trap line he has maintained for the last decade.

Regardless ofMcFadden'sdecision it seems at least part of the rare cat will make its way to themuseumfor research.

"The [museum] would be very interested in the skin,ideally still attached to the carcass,"wroteMcAlpine, adding that a skinned carcass would still be turned over to the museum for research purposes.