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(Felis concolor)
This large predatorial cat, also known as the mountain lion, panther,
and puma, is most commonly known as the cougar. The first
predecessors of the modern cats appeared about 50 million years ago, and
prowled for prey in the Eocene forests, but left no real trace of
themselves until the Oligocene epoch, about 20 million years later.
Ori- |
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with serrated edges),
they were able to slice and stab thick-skinned mammoths, mastodons and
ground sloths until they bled to death. By evolving too
perfectly for their specific prey, they had actually sealed their own
fate. During the last Ice Age, the large animals preyed upon by
the sabertooths became extinct. As their large teeth blocked
their mouths for successfully hunting smaller animals, they had in
effect become obsolete and disappeared from the world as well. Adult male mountain lions reach a length of 5 1/2 to 9 feet, and weight from 147 to 227 pounds. One of the largest mountain lions on record is a 220 pound cat shot by President |
Theodore Roosevelt,
although they are believed to grow much larger. The female will
range in size from 5 to 5.7 feet in length and 79 to 132 pounds.
The pelage of an adult mountain lion varies from tawny red to gray to
chocolate brown with darker shades on top and a pale white chest,
throat and belly. Females bear one to six kittens in a simple den, a cave, or even under a fallen tree. Young lions may stay with the mother for as long as two years, or however much time is necessary to learn their complicated hunting strategies. Cougars reach maturity at three years, and may live eight or more years in the wild, and up to 19 years in captivity. The cougar is a predatorial carnivore that relies primarily on deer for food. They will also prey upon other large cervids, porcupines, beaver, rabbits, rodents and raccoons. When their natural prey is scarce, cougars will occasionally prey upon domestic stock animals and fish. Although they tend to be shy and secretive, cougars can be very dangerous to humans. Aside from feeding on livestock, starving cats have been known to maul people. Healthy cats are able to bring down prey larger than themselves, and are armed with one of nature's most lethal weapons; retracting claws. Muscle contractions unsheathe the claws from their soft padding, saving the sharp claws from unnecessary wear. Cougars generally rely on surprising their prey after extensive time spent watching and waiting for a deer to move within close range, then delivering a fast, efficient killing bite while avoiding being kicked, gored, or slammed into trees. The strategy is to slip their sharp canine teeth between the prey's vertebrae, thereby severing its spinal cord with a single bite. When hunting in snow, cougars often place their hind feet directly in the tracks made by their front pair, |
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reducing the noise they make. Because of the danger of the hunt, it is not unusual for cougars to be killed by their prey. Cougars are highly adaptive to their environments, and live in varied habitats. . . from swamps and wooded river valleys, to dense, alpine coniferous forests. Wooded cover is needed both for its concealment as well as the availability of abundant prey, especially deer. Their territory ranges throughout the western hemisphere, from Tierra del Fuego in South America to the Yukon. An individual cougar requires about 40 to 200 square miles of territory in which to hunt for prey. This home range varies with the change of the seasons, and of course the availability of prey. Between the sexes, males have the larger of the territories, and they will overlap those of several female cougars. The cougar is generally at the top of the food chain wherever it lives, with few natural enemies other than man. Kittens, however, tend to be vulnerable to larger carnivores, and even to eagles and hawks. Cougar expeditions are the only winter hunt we offer. These hunts are generally conducted with dogs. Cougars are rarely seen outside of the hunt, and finding one is truly awe-inspiring. |