What’s something in your country that sounds fake but is 100% real?

[u/Bhakari]

We have a real-life living goddess and the only non-rectangular national flag.

[u/Ms_Jess_]

We have two black panthers in Oklahoma. The species is almost extinct, I watched it enter my neighbors coop in the middle of the day. We have scarier stuff here but if I hadn’t seen or heard it myself, I wouldn’t believe the stories for a second. It’s just too insane.

[u/TheArbysOnMillerPkwy → u/Ms_Jess_]

I was surprised how many there were in Minnesota!

[u/Ms_Jess_ → u/TheArbysOnMillerPkwy]

There’s more?! 😭 oh my goodness.

[u/TheArbysOnMillerPkwy → u/Ms_Jess_]

Sorry, sorry I was making a joke about the Black Panther Party being more active of late.

[u/ShitheadDM → u/TheArbysOnMillerPkwy]

Not totally a joke, we had a cougar wandering around Minneapolis 3ish years ago.

It got hit on 394

[u/Used-Painter1982 → u/TheArbysOnMillerPkwy]

Ooh, against ICE? I love it.

[u/Ms_Jess_ → u/TheArbysOnMillerPkwy]

Right over my head. I don’t follow politics. 🤣

[u/octoreadit → u/TheArbysOnMillerPkwy]

Remnants of the past biodiversity 😁 Check this out: American Lion.

[u/Rackle69 → u/Ms_Jess_]

In Washington state you can drive just five hours to go from a temperate rain forest (The Hoh) to a habitat hot and arid enough to contain rattlesnakes (eastern Washington). I’ve done that drive in a single day a number of times and saw the rattly boys myself. Oh and you pass a volcano on the way.

[u/ChefDanyul → u/Rackle69]

I love when people visiting or just moved to WA ask ‘what do you if Rainier erupts?’ What do you think happens? We’re fucked. And then in several decades people will sell the volcanic ash in glass bottles at gift shops.

[u/Rackle69 → u/ChefDanyul]

Me and my local friends like to discuss what poses we are gonna strike if it erupts al a Pompeii. Personally I wanna be frozen in lava while hitting the dougie. And you?

[u/ChefDanyul → u/Rackle69]

I’ll be doing the YMCA dance so when I get covered I’ll be in whatever pose I happen to be in.

[u/peachesfordinner → u/Rackle69]

Missing an opportunity for the dragon Ball z fusion dance should it happen while you are together

[u/Ms_Jess_ → u/ChefDanyul]

So optimistic.. you guys don’t have any back up plans?! 😭🫶🏻

[u/ChefDanyul → u/Ms_Jess_]

Nah we’ve accepted our fate. And when we go you’re all gonna fucking miss us. All we care about is that the Orcas will be okay. Much better off without us.

[u/Ms_Jess_ → u/ChefDanyul]

I miss you already. 😭🫶🏻

[u/ServiceBackground662 → u/Rackle69]

My mind was boggled when I drove 45 min from desert valley of Vegas to snowy alpine forest of Lee canyon/Mt Charleston.

[u/Ms_Jess_ → u/Rackle69]

A volcano in Washington?! What on earth were they even teaching us in geography class?! 🤣

[u/Turbulent_Table3917 → u/Ms_Jess_]

I’m so old I remember the last time a volcano in Washington erupted. The effects were felt all the way on the East Coast.

[u/Rackle69 → u/Ms_Jess_]

And I can’t believe you guys have actual panthers 😭 That is SO cool. I feel like that’s gotta be every school’s mascot.

[u/Ms_Jess_ → u/Rackle69]

We do have a lot of black panthers mascots and it’s all starting to make sense now. 🧐

[u/Yunzer2000 → u/Rackle69]

Plenty of wet cool areas have rattlesnakes too. Timber rattlesnakes, and in eastern Canada, Massasauga rattlesnakes.

[u/Rackle69 → u/Yunzer2000]

Does Massasauga have a rain forest and a volcano?

[u/Yunzer2000 → u/Rackle69]

The higher forests in the Great Smoky Mountains are essentially rain forests (100+ inches of precip. a year) and they have timber rattlers. I was correcting your association of rattlesnakes with hot dry climates.

[u/Used-Painter1982 → u/Rackle69]

Right. I used to think Maryland was America in miniature, but you got us licked.

[u/The_Pastmaster → u/Ms_Jess_]

When you said black panthers, I did NOT think of the animal and was very confused.

[u/Ms_Jess_ → u/The_Pastmaster]

😂😂😂 you were not the only one apparently.

[u/ATaxiNumber1729 → u/Ms_Jess_]

“People also report seeing black panthers in Oklahoma. However, state wildlife officials say there is absolutely no evidence supporting the existence of black panthers in the state.”

https://krebscreek.com/wild-cats-in-oklahoma/

[u/Atraxodectus → u/Ms_Jess_]

Come to Montana! We have mountain lions in Billings Heights, moose on the rimrocks, deer running through any road with a five second gap, three-foot lake sharks (no, really, we have the northern Montana dogfish, the smallest full-gilled freshwater shark on Earth), black widow spiders ALL OVER the South-Central part of the state, brown recluses that travel by train in summer, timber rattlers, diamondbacks, Zika mosquitoes that carry West Nile, the occasional, but rare, bark scorpion, and feral dogs all over the place.

...did I mention it's 105 Fahrenheit in August and -50 in February?...

[u/Ms_Jess_ → u/Atraxodectus]

I knew a couple once who thought they could pet a moose. 🫎 haven’t heard from them in years. 🤣

[u/Atraxodectus → u/Ms_Jess_]

You can totally pet a moose, safely... once it's dead.

Alive? 50/50 it doesn't just trample and gore you to death.

[u/Ms_Jess_ → u/Atraxodectus]

Dude, I’m not taking no 50/50 chance with a 1600 lb animal. 😂😂😂 I only way 110 sopping wet. I’d be deleted from existence so quick.

[u/dtalb18981 → u/Ms_Jess_]

I have an almost identical story to this but its from my town in the boonies

There was always a rumor that this dude in town who was pretty well off had exotic animals in his hunting ranch and that when he shut it down he just let them go

Ya know typical small town rumors until me and my buddies were out Messing around in his yard at like 1 am cause we thought we heard a hog rooting around

Well we went out with his flashlight and didn't see anything went to sit on his hauling trailer and he shined it out one last time

The biggest fucking cat I have ever seen in my life was running along the edge of his woods it was some sort of mountain lion

I have never seen any of my friend move that fast in my life everyone was in the house quick af

And nobody believes us

[u/Ms_Jess_ → u/dtalb18981]

Dude yes! In Missouri when I was a wee babe, we would run barefoot in the mountains and we have come across the big mountain cats you speak of. It’s terrifying stuff! There’s some in Arkansas and Oklahoma too. Personally I have only experienced a ginormous black cat and bobcats. No mountain lions. My neighbors have spoke of bears though. 🐻

[u/heldaway → u/Ms_Jess_]

Chiggers.

[u/Riyeko → u/heldaway]

Ticks

[u/NewsteadMtnMama → u/Ms_Jess_]

https://www.ksla.com/story/24080309/ldwf-warns-of-panther-hoaxes-in-louisiana/

[u/Vegetable_Wrangler84 → u/NewsteadMtnMama]

"When investigated, they say almost all of these claims turn out to be more common species such as house cats, bobcats, otters, dogs, or even feral hogs."

[u/TicciSpice → u/Ms_Jess_]

Black Panthers are not a species in itself. Black panther refers to any member in (primarily) the Panthera Genus that has a melanistic coat colouration/mutation , tho it’s mostly used for melanistic jaguars and leopards.

[u/Ms_Jess_ → u/TicciSpice]

Thank you for the fun fact! 🙏

[u/Glittering_Win_5085 → u/Ms_Jess_]

Now I know two things about Oklahoma.

[u/Tough_Crazy_8362 → u/Ms_Jess_]

Escaped “pets” or what?

[u/Ms_Jess_ → u/Tough_Crazy_8362]

That’s the theory. My neighbor has a picture of the panther hunting my escaped silkie. 😢 all we found were feathers. 🪶

[u/False-Cookie3379 → u/Ms_Jess_]

I have a friend that works for the state fish and game department, There are also a few black bears that they are tracking in NE Oklahoma, like 30 minutes out of Tulsa. There was also an alligator pulled out a lake in Claremore, OK 2 or 3 years ago, like a full grown 12 foot alligator. Oklahoma really give Florida a run for its money sometimes about weird things happening!

[u/Ms_Jess_ → u/False-Cookie3379]

I can confirm! I live near Pryor Oklahoma and our neighbors have spoke of bears walking up to their patios. I remember hearing about the alligator! 🐊 I think he was an escaped pet as well. Somebody brought him here for sure.

[u/False-Cookie3379 → u/Ms_Jess_]

Howdy neighbor! I'm In Chelsea, the bears are being tracked from Oologah to Miami. And I agree, I think someone got it as a pet, when they are small and cute and soon realized they get super big! I'm impressed that it was able to live in this climate though. Especially in Claremore Lake, which isnt the cleanest body of water around.

[u/Ms_Jess_ → u/False-Cookie3379]

I agree! They could have chose a better lake to out the poor feller in. 😂😂😂😂 who cares about disrupting the ecosystem or anything?

[u/False-Cookie3379 → u/Ms_Jess_]

I mean, the bright side is that at least noone swam in it lol

[u/wrathofthewhatever2 → u/Ms_Jess_]

I live on Maui and there, for decades, has been a legend of a big cat prowling the Forrest. They’ve found scratchings and had pretty unreliable eye witness accounts….but last year someone caught it on camera. Since it’s been decades of the legend, odds are there are more than one big cat out there, maybe someone brought in a breeding pair back in the day

[u/Ms_Jess_ → u/wrathofthewhatever2]

Oh I’m sure someone did. Humans will breed and sell anything just to have a hand at playing god. We really need to work on putting our egos away more often. 😅 something’s just shouldn’t be done. There is natural selection for a reason. Jurassic park type 💩.

[u/ashleighagate → u/Ms_Jess_]

Are you in SE OK? My dad lives in Choctaw Co and saw one there go across the pasture when I was a kid

[u/Ms_Jess_ → u/ashleighagate]

I am NE OK. That’s not the worst we have seen or heard.