Where Might a Panther Be?
A habitat-suitability read on the Australian "big cat" sighting record — plotting decades of widely reported panther sightings across south-eastern Australia against the terrain, forest and remoteness a large cat would actually need. This maps where sightings and suitable country coincide; it is not evidence such an animal exists.
A leopard- or puma-sized cat would favour rugged, densely forested gorge and escarpment country with year-round water, thick understorey for stalking cover, and abundant medium prey (wallabies, wombats, deer, rabbits, poultry) — not open, exposed plains. Zones are scored by combining five factors: sighting density, large unbroken forest extent, terrain ruggedness / denning refuge, prey-rich forest–farmland mosaic, and distance from dense population centres. Cold, exposed alpine country scores lower despite scattered sightings — thinner understorey and prey.
Built as an analytical thought-experiment.
No physical specimen, verified track cast or DNA sample has ever confirmed a big-cat population in Australia. Sighting data: widely reported "Gippsland panther" and "Lithgow panther" accounts collated from regional press and published big-cat research, running from the 1950s (tied to WWII-era circus/army-mascot escape folklore) to the present. Coordinates are approximate (nearest named locality).