http://therumpus.net/2016/08/wildlife-of-unknown-status/

"Not long ago, the largest cat in Eastern America, the Florida panther, was categorized as “wildlife of unknown status” by ecologists, a label given to ivory-billed woodpeckers, Bigfoot, and the Loch Ness monster. Until the 1980s, the Florida panther was presumed extinct or myth, reported by weary commuters and conspiracy theorists. Tracking one, when scientists realized they existed, required groups of men and dogs reading paw prints, following scent, riding in handmade amphibious jeeps, traversing cottonmouth-filled swamps, and then finally treeing a panther for days.

And the cats could jump tree-to-tree."