Cougar Puma

Animal Wildlife | Puma | Puma is simply another name for a cougar and therefore one of the largest and ruthless members of the cat family in the world. The puma is native to the Americas and can be found from Western Canada, to the Andes mountain range in South America and all along the west coast of North America.

Cougar (Puma concolor) is a very large, New World wild cat (family Felidae), characterized by a slender body, long hind legs, retractable claws, and typically an unpatterned tawny, grayish, or reddish coat. Also known as puma, mountain lion, or panther, depending on region, this large, solitary cat has the greatest range of any wild terrestrial mammal in the Western Hemisphere (Iriarte et al. 1990), extending from Yukon in Canada to the southern Andes of South America. It also is the second heaviest cat in the New World, after the jaguar, and the fourth heaviest in the world, after the tiger, lion, and jaguar, although it is most closely related to smaller felines.

An adaptable, generalist species, the cougar is found in every major New World habitat type. A capable stalk-and-ambush predator, the cougar pursues a wide variety of prey. Primary food sources include ungulates such as deer and bighorn sheep, as well as domestic cattle, horses, and sheep, particularly in the northern part of its range, but it hunts species as small as insects and rodents. As a predator at the top of its food chain, the cougar helps keep populations of prey species in balance. The cougar prefers habitats with dense underbrush and rocky areas for stalking, but it can live in open areas. It is a reclusive cat and usually avoids people. Attacks on humans remain rare, despite a recent increase in frequency (McKee 2003).

Due to persecution following the European colonization of the Americas, and continuing human development of cougar habitat, populations have dropped in many 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 common names and various references in the mythology of the indigenous peoples of the Americas and in contemporary culture.

The puma is a solitary mammal and will compete for prey with larger predators such as wolf packs and bears. The puma hunts deer, elk, beavers and other large mammals and the occasional bird. Pumas tend to be tan or brown in colour and their size is often dependent on the area in which they live. Those pumas found in Canada and North America are generally slightly larger and have thicker fur than the pumas found in South America, as the uncompromising winters mean that the northern puma must have more defense against the cold. Pumas are highly territorial and tend to be found in mountain ranges and in some areas where there is dense, undisturbed forest. The puma population day is declining mainly due to habitat loss. - ANIMAL WILDLIFE

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