In my recent episode on Alien Big Cats (ABCs) in the Australian bush, one of the discussion points was (if these animals have somehow established viable breeding populations) what are they eating? Big cats need on average 5kgs of meat a day to stay healthy and can eat up to 50kgs in one sitting if the need arises.
The area with the most “sightings” in Victoria is the Grampians, which is home to plenty of wildlife but only one animal large enough to readily sustain a big cat: the eastern grey kangaroo.
Kangaroos are common in the Grampians, but any big cat living up there, even in peak physical condition, would have its work cut out for it trying to bring one down. Firstly, kangaroos are astonishingly fast: if needed they can hop at 70 km/ph, faster than the top speed of a mountain lion, and can change direction at the drop of a hat. They can cover 12m in a single bound and jump 3m into the air while doing so. Cats are pretty good at running and jumping too, to be sure, and a healthy big cat could match a kangaroo and cover the same distance of ground, but the kangaroo is faster and can maintain its top speed for longer.
But, if a cat did get within striking distance of a kangaroo, it would have another problem on it’s paws. While mountain lions are heavier than kangaroos, kangaroos are very powerful animals and have been known to kill dingos with a good kick from their back legs! They’ve also got long claws on their fore- and hindlimbs, and people have been seriously injured (even disemboweled!) by kangaroos.
Just look at those things!
Any big cat that got too close to that would be in for a nasty surprise, and without easy access to food, the isolated bush wouldn’t make a good environment for a lurking big cat. They’d have to get close to farms, where they could prey on livestock, and (as discussed in the podcast), if that was happening with any regularity, one would have been shot by now. After all, no farmer is going to want a big cat hanging around their livestock.