CactusCat - [Fearsome Critter]

Cactus Cat - (Latin name: “Cactifelinus Inebrius”)

• About this Critter: Lumberjacks that told yarns about their visits to Americas Southwest spoke of a near extinct creature that resembled a bobcat or a lion with prickly green fur like a cactus, roaming Americas Deserts (particularly in abundance between Prescott and Tucson & old Mexico) - Said to be very Territorial with peculiar mating habits, sustaining itself & attracting mates by slashing cacti with its spurs and then getting “pickled” on fermented cactus juice. (Mines an example of a domesticated kitten.)

• History & Earliest Appearances: The earliest illustrated mention of the cactus cat is William T Cox's Fearsome Creatures [1910] - It also appears in Henry H Tryons Fearsome Critters [1939] & other bestiaries. - It seems to be a desert variant of the 'wampus cat' & other 'cryptid big cats' that where said to prowl America's nature - Cox's included story goes as follows:

    How many people have heard of the cactus cat? Thousands of people spend their winters in the great Southwest—the land of desert and mountain, of fruitful valleys, of flat-topped meas, of Pueblos, Navajos, and Apaches, of sunshine, and the ruins of ancient Cliff-dwellers. It is doubtful, however, if one in a hundred of these people ever heard of a cactus cat, to say nothing of seeing one sporting about among the cholla and palo verde. Only the old-timers know of the beast and its queer habits.
    The cactus cat, as its name signifies, lives in the great cactus districts, and is particularly abundant between Prescott and Tucson. It has been reported, also, from the valley of the lower Yaqui, in Old Mexico, and the cholla-covered hills of Yucatan. The cactus cat has thorny hair, the thorns being especially long and rigid on its ears. Its tail is branched, and upon the forearms above its front feet are sharp, knifelike blades of bone. With these blades it slashes the base of giant cactus trees, causing the sap to exude. This is done systematically, many trees being slashed in the course of several nights as the cat makes a big circuit. By the time it is back to the place of beginning the sap of the first cactus has fermented into a kind of mescal, sweet and very intoxicating. This is greedily lapped up by the thirsty beast, which soon becomes fiddling drunk, and goes waltzing off in the moonlight, rasping its bony forearms across each other and screaming with delight. "

 - Tyron adds that the old timers would trail them when they where thirsty

Sticker Art by @Samkalensky (yo thats me!) - Part of my Fearsome Critters & Cryptids Sticker Collection, weather resistant 4" Glossy sticker. Check my shop & follow @samkalensky for many more!