Mountain Lion
Puma concolor
Summary 2
The cougar (Puma concolor), also commonly known by other names including catamount,[4] mountain lion, panther, and puma,[5] is a large felid of the subfamily Felinae native to the Americas. Its range, from the Canadian Yukon to the southern Andes of South America, is the widest of any large wild terrestrial mammal in the Western Hemisphere. An adaptable, generalist species, the cougar is found in most American habitat types. It is the biggest cat in North America,[6] and the second-heaviest cat in the New World after the jaguar. Secretive and largely solitary by nature, the cougar is properly considered both nocturnal and crepuscular, although daytime sightings do occur.[7][8][9][10] The cougar is more closely related to smaller felines, including the domestic cat (subfamily Felinae), than to any species of subfamily Pantherinae,[1][11][12] of which only the jaguar is native to the Americas.
The cougar is an ambush predator that pursues a wide variety of prey. Primary food sources are ungulates, particularly deer. It also hunts species as small as insects and rodents. This cat prefers habitats with dense underbrush and rocky areas for stalking, but can also live in open areas. The cougar is territorial and survives at low population densities. Individual territory sizes depend on terrain, vegetation, and abundance of prey. While large, it is not always the apex predator in its range, yielding prey it has killed to lone jaguars, American black bears, and grizzly bears, and to groups of gray wolves. It is reclusive and mostly avoids people. Fatal attacks on humans are rare, but have recently been increasing in North America as more people enter cougar territories.[13]
Intensive hunting following European colonization of the Americas and the ongoing human development of cougar habitat has caused populations to drop in most parts of its historical range. In particular, the North American cougar was extirpated in eastern North America in the beginning of the 20th century, except for the isolated Florida panther subpopulation. Transient males have been verified in Minnesota,[14] Missouri,[15] Iowa,[16][17] Michigan, Indiana,[18] and Illinois (where a cougar was shot in the city limits of Chicago),[19][20][18] and in at least one instance, observed as far east as coastal Connecticut.[21][22] Reports of eastern cougars (P. c. cougar) still surface, although it was declared extirpated in 2011.[23]
The head of the cat is round and the ears are 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.[42]
Cougars are slender and agile members of the Felidae. They are the fourth-largest cat species worldwide;[43] adults stand about 60 to 90 cm (24 to 35 in) tall at the shoulders.[44] Adult males are around 2.4 m (7.9 ft) long from nose to tail tip, and females average 2.05 m (6.7 ft), with overall ranges between 1.50 to 2.75 m (4.9 to 9.0 ft) nose to tail suggested for the species in general.[45][46] Of this length, the tail typically accounts for 63 to 95 cm (25 to 37 in).[47] Males generally weigh 53 to 100 kg (117 to 220 lb), averaging 68 kg (150 lb). Females typically weigh between 29 and 64 kg (64 and 141 lb), averaging 55 kg (121 lb).[48][47][49][50] Cougar size is smallest close to the equator and larger towards the poles.[6] The largest recorded cougar, shot in 1901, weighed 105.2 kg (232 lb); claims of 125.2 kg (276 lb) and 118 kg (260 lb) have been reported, though they were most likely exaggerated.[51] On average, adult male cougars in British Columbia weigh 56.7 kg (125 lb) and adult females 45.4 kg (100 lb), though several male cougars in British Columbia weighed between 86.4 and 95.5 kg (190 and 211 lb).[52]
Depending on the locality, cougars can be smaller or bigger than jaguars, but are less muscular and not as powerfully built so their weight is on average less. Whereas cougars tend to be larger as distance increases from the equator,[6] which crosses the northern portion of South America, jaguars are simply generally smaller north of the Amazon River in South America and larger south of that river. For example, while South American jaguars are comparatively large and may exceed 90 kg (200 lb),[53] those in Mexico's Chamela-Cuixmala Biosphere Reserve weigh about the same as female cougars (approximately 50 kg (110 lb)).[54]
The cougar is on average larger than all felid species apart from the lion, tiger, and jaguar. Despite its size, it is not typically classified among the "big cats" because it cannot roar, lacking the specialized larynx and hyoid apparatus of Panthera.[55] Compared to "big cats", cougars are often silent with minimal communication through vocalizations outside of the mother-offspring relationship.[56] Cougars sometimes voice low-pitched hisses, growls, and purrs, as well as chirps and whistles, many of which are comparable to those of domestic cats. They are well known for their screams, as referenced in some of their common names, although these screams are often misinterpreted to be the calls of other animals or humans.[57]
Cougar coloring is plain (hence the Latin concolor) but can vary greatly across individuals and even siblings. The coat is typically tawny like that of the lion, which is why it was initially called the "mountain lion",[49] but it otherwise ranges from silvery-grey or reddish with lighter patches on the underbody, including the jaws, chin, and throat. Infants are spotted and born with blue eyes and rings on their tails;[49] juveniles are pale and dark spots remain on their flanks.[46] Despite anecdotes to the contrary, all-black coloring (melanism) has never been documented in cougars.[58] The term "black panther" is used colloquially to refer to melanistic individuals of other species, particularly jaguars and leopards.[59]
Cougars have large paws and proportionally the largest hind legs in Felidae,[49] allowing for their great leaping and short-sprint ability. The cougar's top running speed ranges between 64 and 80 km/h (40 and 50 mph),[60][61] but is best adapted for 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.[62]
A successful generalist predator, the cougar will eat any animal it can catch, from insects to large ungulates (over 500 kg (1,100 lb)). Like other cats, it is an obligate carnivore, meaning it must feed on meat to survive. The mean weight of vertebrate prey (MWVP) that pumas attack increases with the puma's body weight; in general, MWVP is lower in areas closer to the equator.[6] Its most important prey species are various deer species, particularly in North America; mule deer, white-tailed deer, elk, and even bull moose are taken. Other species such as the bighorn and Dall's sheep, horse, fallow deer, caribou, mountain goat, coyote and pronghorn.[63] A survey of North America research found 68% of prey items were ungulates, especially deer. Only the Florida panther showed variation, often preferring feral hogs and armadillos.[6]
Investigations at Yellowstone National Park showed that elk, followed by mule deer, were the cougar's primary targets; the prey base is shared with the park's gray wolves, with which the cougar competes for resources.[64] Another study on winter kills (November–April) in Alberta showed that ungulates accounted for greater than 99% of the cougar diet. Learned, individual prey recognition was observed, as some cougars rarely killed bighorn sheep, while others relied heavily on the species.[65]
In Pacific Rim National Park Reserve, scat samples showed raccoons to make up 28% of the cougar's diet, harbor seals and blacktail deer 24% each, North American river otters 10%, California sea lion 7%, and American mink 4%; the remaining 3% were unidentified.[66]
In the Central and South American cougar range, the ratio of deer in the diet declines. Small to mid-sized mammals are preferred, including large rodents such as the capybara. Ungulates accounted for only 35% of prey items in one survey, about half that of North America. Competition with the larger jaguar in South America has been suggested for the decline in the size of prey items.[6] However, a study by Gutiérrez-González and López-González showed that the cougar and jaguar in Central or North America may share the same prey, depending on its abundance.[67] Other listed prey species of the cougar include mice, porcupines, beavers, raccoons, hares, guanaco, peccary, vicuna, rhea, and wild turkey.[68] Birds and small reptiles are sometimes preyed upon in the south, but this is rarely recorded in North America.[6]
Although 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.[42]
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. 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 prefers habitats that include precipitous canyons, escarpments, rim rocks, and dense brush,[62] but can also live in open areas with little vegetation.[2]
The cougar was extirpated across nearly all of its eastern North American range (with the exception of Florida) in the two centuries after European colonization, and faced grave threats elsewhere. It currently ranges across most western American states, the Canadian provinces of Alberta, Saskatchewan and British Columbia, and the Canadian territory of Yukon. There have been widely debated reports of possible recolonization of eastern North America.[82] DNA evidence has suggested its presence in eastern North America,[83] while a consolidated map of cougar sightings shows numerous reports from the mid-western Great Plains through to eastern Canada.[84] The Quebec wildlife services also considers cougar to be present in the province as a threatened species after multiple DNA tests confirmed cougar hair in lynx mating sites.[85] The only unequivocally known eastern population is the critically endangered Florida panther. There have been unconfirmed sightings in Elliotsville Plantation, Maine (north of Monson) and as early as 1997 in New Hampshire.[86] In 2009, the Michigan Department of Natural Resources confirmed a cougar sighting in Michigan's Upper Peninsula.[87] Typically, extreme-range sightings of cougars involve young males, which can travel great distances to establish ranges away from established males. All four confirmed cougar kills in Iowa since 2000 involved males.[88]
Sources and Credits
- (c) pfaucher, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC), uploaded by pfaucher
- Adapted by calgaryzoo from a work by (c) Wikipedia, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puma_concolor
