Cougar
- The puma can leap 5–6 metres horizontally and almost as far vertically, and can reach speeds of up to 80 km/h over short distances.
- A cougar can drag a carcass up to 5–10 times its own weight over a considerable distance.
- One male killed by a car in Connecticut turned out by DNA to have travelled more than 2,400 km from South Dakota — one of the longest recorded journeys by a land mammal.
- Historically, the cougar's range was the largest among all terrestrial mammals in America. Even today, in terms of latitudinal distribution, it is comparable to several cat species.
- The cougar is the only American cat with a uniform coloration, hence its scientific name concolor, meaning "single-colored.
- The puma is a skilled hunter capable of bringing down prey several times its own weight and often returns to a carcass, covering it with leaves.
- The mountain lion (puma, cougar) holds the Guinness record as the mammal with the most names — more than 40 in English alone.
- The cougar (Puma concolor) can feed on a wide variety of animals, from mice and opossums to coyotes and other cougars, as well as birds, fish, snails, and insects.
- When hunting, a cougar approaches large prey and jumps onto its back from a short distance, breaking its neck.
- The hunting area of a female cougar ranges from 26 to 350 km² and is usually located on the periphery of the male's territory.
- It is the largest member of the “small cats”: it cannot roar like lions and tigers but instead purrs, chirps and emits a piercing scream.
- Cougars lead a strictly solitary life, except for pairs during the mating period and mothers with kittens, who live together for 1–6 days.
- The cougar does not distinguish between wild and domestic animals, attacking livestock, dogs, cats, and birds whenever the opportunity arises.
- Despite its reputation as a dangerous predator, fatal attacks on humans are extremely rare.
- The puma is an example of how one animal can bear dozens of names and still remain one of the most enigmatic large predators in the Americas.
Age
The species has a typical lifespan of from 20 years and 3 months to 33 years and 9 months, although the maximum recorded lifespan is 27 years, with a theoretical lifespan ranging from 11 years and 11 months to 23 years and 10 months. The age of sexual maturity for the species is from 2 to 4 years. Eyes open between 1 and 2 weeks of age, and the young begin walking from 2 weeks and 4 days to 4 weeks. During the “Embryo” stage, the fetus develops inside the mother. The “Kitten” stage involves a kitten with blue eyes and spots on its fur; it lives with its mother, drinks milk, and learns how to hunt. The adult stage begins when the cougar becomes an adult, hunts independently, and lives alone, lasting from 2 to 15 years.
Phenotype
The cougar, also known as a catamount or deer tiger, and another name for it is mountain lion, has young with soft fur featuring dark spots for camouflage. Adult coats are short and smooth, colored a gray-brown to aid in concealment among rocks and bushes. The species possesses long, sharp canines that assist in quickly killing prey, and retractable claws used for capturing prey. A long tail helps the animal maintain balance during jumps.
Physiology
The cougar, also known as catamount or deer tiger, has a body height ranging from 22.9 to 33 centimeters, and a body length varying from 1.5 to 2.4 meters; the species’ mass ranges from 36.7 to 39.41 kilograms. During the embryonic stage, the young have a body mass of 1 to 400 grams and a body length of 1 millimeter to 10 centimeters. The newborn cub has a body mass of 400 grams to 25 kilograms and a body length of 30 centimeters to 1.2 meters. An adult cougar weighs from 50 to 100 kilograms and measures 1.8 to 2.4 meters in length.
Habitat
The cougar inhabits elevations up to 4.8 kilometers above sea level and occupies diverse biomes, including temperate mixed forests with warm summers and abundant oak, birch, and maple trees; temperate coniferous forests characterized by cool temperatures, numerous coniferous trees, and snow in winter; flooded meadows where water frequently covers the ground and grass is plentiful; deserts and dry scrublands experiencing intense heat and aridity with infrequent rainfall and cacti; and taiga regions with cold winters and many coniferous trees such as spruce and pine. The species’ landscape preferences include land, desert, and semi-desert environments, terrestrial forests, grasslands and steppes, coastal zones, and shrublands. Climates range from cold steppes with dry conditions and cold winters to extremely arid areas with very rare rainfall, to cool and nearly dry conditions persisting throughout most of the year. Summers vary from cool to warm, ranging from 15 to 25 degrees Celsius, or from 15 to 20 degrees Celsius.
Shelter
The cougar occupies mountainous or forested areas and utilizes dens for shelter; these dens serve multiple purposes, including reproduction, rest, and protection from the sun.
Geography
Cougars inhabit the biogeographic realms of Afrotropics, Nearctics, and Neotropics; the species’ ecosystems include forests of the central and southern Cascade Range, forests of the Eastern Cascades, forests of the Klamath-Siskiyou, Wasatch and Uinta mountain forests, Sierra Madre Occidental pine-oak forests, and California Coastal sage scrub.
Feeding
The cougar is a predator that hunts deer, moose, and smaller animals, quietly stalking its prey before attacking with a powerful leap, employing ambush tactics to obtain food. The species’ diet includes elk, muskrats, rodents, hares, rabbits, large mammals, and small mammals, with a daily food requirement ranging from 1.8 kilograms to 3.5 kilograms. Young cougars consume milk. The species preys on beavers, true deer, horned deer, hares, peccaries, raccoons, arctomys, mazamas, llamas, moose, and American rabbits. In some cultures the animal is consumed, but it is not considered halal or kosher.
Reproduction
Cougars inhabit and develop on land, outside of bodies of water, and the young are born live on land, not hatching from eggs or roe. The species reproduces through homogamy, always with fertilization and without generational change. Cougars mate at any time of year, and the female carries the offspring for about three months before giving birth to a litter of 1–6. The mother raises the kittens alone, and the size of a litter is 1–6. The interval between reproduction is from 1 year to 2 years and 6 months. Sexual maturity occurs from 2 to 4 years.