COUGAR CAT
The Cougar (Puma concolor), also known as the puma or mountain lion, is a large, solitary cat found in the Americas.
The Cougar (Felis concolor), are excellant hunters who stalk their prey.
They may leap as far as 7 metres to attack their prey.
A male Cougar Cat can measure 2.5 m in length and weigh over 90 kg.
Its primary food is deer.
They also hunt a range of prey, from insects, mice and rabbits.
A cougar can kill and drag prey about seven times its own weight.
Primary food sources include ungulates such as deer, elk, and bighorn sheep, as well as domestic cattle, horses, and sheep, particularly in the northern part of its range, but it also hunts species as small as insects and rodents.
Moreover, it prefers habitats with dense underbrush and rocky areas for stalking, but it can live in open areas. The cougar is territorial and persists at low population densities. Individual territory sizes depend on terrain, vegetation, and abundance of prey.
While it is a large predator, it is not always the dominant species in its range, as when it competes for prey with other predators such as the jaguar, gray wolf, American Black Bear, and the grizzly bear.
It is a reclusive cat and usually avoids people.
Attacks on humans remain rare.
Due to continuing human development of cougar habitat, populations have dropped in most parts of its historical range.
In particular, the cougar was extirpated in eastern North America, except an isolated sub-population in Florida; the animal may be recolonizing parts of its former eastern territory.
With its vast range, the cougar has dozens of names and various references in the mythology of the indigenous Americans and in contemporary culture.
The cougar has numerous names in English, of which puma and mountain lion are popular.
Other names include catamount, panther and mountain screamer.
The Cougar is the largest of the small cats.
It is placed in the subfamily Felinae, although its bulk characteristics are similar to those of the big cats in the subfamily Pantherinae.
The family Felidae is believed to have originated in Asia approximately 11 million years ago. Taxonomic research on felids remains partial and much of what is known about their evolutionary history is based on mitochondrial DNA analysis, as cats are poorly represented in the fossil record, and there are significant confidence intervals with suggested dates.
Although large, the cougar is closely related to small felines.
Canyon Creek- Cougar (detail)
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Until the late 1990s, as many as 32 subspecies were recorded;
Argentine puma (Puma concolor cabrerae)
includes the previous subspecies and synonyms hudsonii and puma (Marcelli, 1922);
Costa Rican Cougar (Puma concolor costaricensis)
Eastern South American cougar (Puma concolor anthonyi)
includes the previous subspecies and synonyms acrocodia, borbensis, capricornensis, concolor (Pelzeln, 1883), greeni and nigra;
North American Cougar (Puma concolor couguar)
includes the previous subspecies and synonyms arundivaga, aztecus, browni, californica, coryi, floridana, hippolestes, improcera, kaibabensis, mayensis, missoulensis, olympus, oregonensis, schorgeri, stanleyana, vancouverensis and youngi;
Northern South American cougar (Puma concolor concolor)
includes the previous subspecies and synonyms bangsi, incarum, osgoodi, soasoaranna, soderstromii, sucuacuara and wavula;
Southern South American puma (Puma concolor puma)
includes the previous subspecies and synonyms araucanus, concolor (Gay, 1847), patagonica, pearsoni and puma (Trouessart, 1904)
Cougars are slender and agile cats.
Adults stand about 60 to 76 cm (2.0 to 2.5 ft) tall at the shoulders.
The length of adult males is around 2.4 m (8 ft) long nose to tail, with overall ranges between 1.5 and 2.75 meters (5 and 9 ft) nose to tail suggested for the species in general.
Males have an average weight of about 53 to 72 kilograms (115 to 160 pounds).
In rare cases, some may reach over 118 kg (260 lb).
Female average weight is between 34 and 48 kg (75 and 105 lb).
Cougar size is smallest close to the equator, and larger towards the poles.
The head of the cat is round and the ears erect.
Its powerful forequarters, neck, and jaw serve to grasp and hold large prey.
It has five retractable claws on its forepaws (one a dewclaw) and four on its hind paws.
The larger front feet and claws are adaptations to clutching prey.
Cougars can be almost as large as jaguars, but are less muscled and powerful; where their ranges overlap, the cougar tends to be smaller than average.
The cougar is on average as heavy as the leopard. Despite its size, it is not typically classified among the "big cats," as it cannot roar, lacking the specialized larynx and hyoid apparatus of Panthera.
Like domestic cats, cougars vocalize low-pitched hisses, growls, and purrs, as well as chirps and whistles.
They are well known for their screams, referenced in some of its common names, although these may often be the misinterpreted calls of other animals.
Cougar coloring is plain (hence the Latin concolor) but can vary greatly between individuals and even between siblings.
The coat is typically tawny, but ranges to silvery-grey or reddish, with lighter patches on the under body including the jaws, chin, and throat.
Infants are spotted and born with blue eyes and rings on their tails; juveniles are pale, and dark spots remain on their flanks.
Despite anecdotes to the contrary, all-black coloring (melanism) has never been documented in cougars.
The term "black panther" is used colloquially to refer to melanistic individuals of other species, particularly jaguars and leopards.
Cougars have large paws and proportionally the largest hind legs in the cat family.
This physique allows it great leaping and short-sprint ability.
An exceptional vertical leap of 5.4 m (18 ft) is reported for the cougar.
Horizontal jumping capability from standing position is suggested anywhere from 6 to 12 m (20 to 40 ft).
The cougar can run as fast as 55-72 km/h (35-45 mph), but is best adapted for short, powerful sprints rather than long chases. It is adept at climbing, which allows it to evade canine competitors. Although it is not strongly associated with water, it can swim.
A successful generalist predator, the cougar will eat any animal it can catch, from insects to large ungulates.
Like all cats, it is an obligate carnivore, feeding only on meat.
In the Central and South American cougar range, the ratio of deer in the diet declines.
Small to mid-size mammals are preferred, including large rodents such as the capybara.
Ungulates accounted for only 35% of prey items in one survey, approximately half that of North America. Competition with the larger jaguar has been suggested for the decline in the size of prey items.
Other listed prey species of the cougar include mice, porcupine, and hares.
Birds and small reptiles are sometimes preyed upon in the south, but this is rarely recorded in North America.
Though capable of sprinting, the cougar is typically an ambush predator.
It stalks through brush and trees, across ledges, or other covered spots, before delivering a powerful leap onto the back of its prey and a suffocating neck bite. The cougar is capable of breaking the neck of some of its smaller prey with a strong bite and momentum bearing the animal to the ground.
It has a flexible spine which aids its killing technique.
Kills are generally estimated at around one large ungulate every two weeks.
The period shrinks for females raising young, and may be as short as one kill every three days when cubs are nearly mature at around 15 months.
The cat drags a kill to a preferred spot, covers it with brush, and returns to feed over a period of days. It is generally reported that the cougar is a non-scavenger and will rarely consume prey it has not killed; but deer carcasses left exposed for study were scavenged by cougars in California, suggesting more opportunistic behavior.
Females reach sexual maturity between one-and-a-half and three years of age. They typically average one litter every two to three years throughout their reproductive life; the period can be as short as one year.
Females are in estrus for approximately 8 days of a 23-day cycle; the gestation period is approximately 91 days.
Females are sometimes reported as monogamous, but this is uncertain and polygyny may be more common.
Copulation is brief but frequent.
Only females are involved in parenting.
Female cougars are fiercely protective of their kittens, and have been seen to successfully fight off animals as large as grizzly bears in their defense. Litter size is between one and six kittens, typically two or three.
Caves and other alcoves that offer protection are used as litter dens.
Kittens are completely dependent on their mother at first, and begin to be weaned at around three months of age.
As they grow, they begin to go out on forays with their mother, first visiting kill sites, and after six months beginning to hunt small prey on their own.
Kitten survival rates are just over one per litter.
Sub-adults leave their mother to attempt to establish their own territory at around two years of age and sometimes earlier; males tend to leave sooner. One study has shown high morbidity amongst cougars that travel farthest from the maternal range, often due to conflicts with other cougars ("intraspecific" conflict).
Life expectancy in the wild is reported at between 8 to 13 years.
Cougars may live as long as 20 years in captivity.
Like almost all cats, the cougar is a solitary animal.
Only mothers and kittens live in groups, with adults meeting only to mate.
It is secretive and crepuscular, being most active around dawn and dusk.
Estimates of territory sizes vary greatly.
Home range sizes and overall cougar abundance depend on terrain, vegetation, and prey abundance.
Because males disperse further than females and compete more directly for mates and territory, they are most likely to be involved in conflict.
Where a sub-adult fails to leave his maternal range, for example, he may be killed by his father.
When males encounter each other, they hiss and spit, and may engage in violent conflict if neither backs down.
The cougar has the largest range of any wild land animal in the Americas.
Its range spans 110 degrees of latitude, from northern Yukon in Canada to the southern Andes.
It is one of only three cat species, along with the bobcat and Canadian lynx, native to Canada.
Its wide distribution stems from its adaptability to virtually every habitat type: it is found in all forest types as well as in lowland and mountainous deserts.
The cougar was extirpated across much of its eastern North American range with the exception of Florida in the two centuries after European colonization and faced grave threats in the remainder.
Currently, it ranges across most western American states, the Canadian provinces of Alberta and British Columbia, and the Canadian Yukon Territory.
Aside from humans, no species preys upon mature cougars in the wild.
The cat is not, however, the apex predator throughout much of its range.
In its northern range, the cougar interacts with other powerful predators such as the brown bear and gray wolf.
In the south, the cougar must compete with the larger jaguar.
In Florida it encounters the American Alligator.
An adult paw print is approximately 10 cm (4 inches) long.
Mountain Lion, Leaping Stream in Winter, USA
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