There have been quite a few sightings of mountain lions lately in both Illinois and Missouri. There's a new video from an Illinois man that seems to show a potential mountain lion, but there's a problem.

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According to KMOV St. Louis share on YouTube, Dean Gaither sent them this video from his cellphone. It's an interesting looking cat. Pay special attention to the size of this animal and how it walks.

Let's zoom in for a closer look at this cat. This does not look like a mountain lion to me.

KMOV St. Louis/Dean Gaither via YouTube
KMOV St. Louis/Dean Gaither via YouTube
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The Iowa Department of Natural Resources has a helpful guide of how to know when you're seeing a mountain lion. The length of the body of this animal and the tail are not even close to a mountain lion. If I had to guess, I'd say either house cat or maybe a bobcat, but doubting that also. One other indication for me that this isn't a cougar is the fact that this cat is walking near traffic and doesn't seem bothered. Mountain lions are extremely reclusive creatures. A real mountain lion would have been lurking in the woods out of sight at the first sign of humans.

I did see KMOV contacted Illinois Department of Natural Resources who also believe this cat is not big enough or have the appearance of a real mountain lion.

I completely understand why Mr. Gaither shared his video. It's easy to misidentify many of these varying types of cats. You never know when you might capture video of the real thing.

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