The cougar (Puma concolor), also known as puma, mountain lion, mountain cat, catamount or panther, depending on the region, is a mammal of the family Felidae, native to the Americas. This large, solitary cat has the greatest range of any large wild terrestrial mammal in the Western Hemisphere, extending from Yukon in Canada to the southern Andes of South America. An adaptable, generalist species, the cougar is found in every major American habitat type. It is the second heaviest cat in the American continents after the jaguar. Although large, the cougar is most closely related to smaller felines.
Ten Facts about Mountain Lion
- Mountain Lion is the most widely distributed big cat in the Americas.
- Even with its strong physique, the Mountain Lion is like smaller cats in its bodily make-up and is often not included in big cats due to the animal's inability to roar.
- Mountain Lions are agile creatures. Their long hind limbs enable them to jump a distance of nearly thirteen metres in one go.
- Skilled hunters, Mountain Lions are able to prey upon a wide variety of creatures, ranging from small ones like mice to big animals like moose. The most commonly hunted animal though, in majority of regions, remains the deer.
- If they are unable to eat the whole of the hunted animal in one go, the wild cats often hide their kill to return to it later.
- Even with their great predatory ability, Mountain Lions are not the apex predators in many parts where they reside and face considerable competition from larger animals like Jaguars and Bears.
- Owing to this competition, these cats have evolved into designing unique survival strategies in many areas, including the ability to climb atop trees and swim distances to go after prey.
- Cougars are slender and agile cats. Adults stand about 60 to 76 centimeters (2.0 to 2.5 ft) tall at the shoulders. The length of adult males is around 2.4 meters (8 ft) long nose to tail, with overall ranges between 1.5 and 2.75 m (5 and 9 ft) nose to tail suggested for the species in general.[19][20] Males typically weigh 53 to 100 kilograms (115 to 220 pounds), averaging 62 kg (137 lb). Females typically weigh between 29 and 64 kg (64 and 141 lb), averaging 42 kg (93 lb).
- The cougar can run as fast as 55 to 72 km/h (35 mi/h).
- The highest numbers of attacks by the Mountain Lions on people reportedly occur in the notorious 'Cougar Island' in British Columbia where Cougars exist in high population density.
