Cougar
The cougar (Puma concolor) (, KOO-gər), also known as the puma, mountain lion, catamount or panther, is a large cat native to the Americas, second only in size to the stockier jaguar. They are not technically grouped with the “true” big cats, as they are slightly smaller than other big cats, and they lack the vocal physiology to roar (such as with lions, tigers, leopards and jaguars). Its range spans from the Canadian Provinces of the Yukon, British Columbia and Alberta, the Rocky Mountains and areas to the Western United States. Their range extends further south through Mexico, where they are found in nearly every state, to the Amazon Rainforest and the southern Andes Mountains in Patagonia. The puma (as it is called in Spanish) inhabits every mainland country in Central and South America, making it the most widely distributed large, wild, terrestrial mammal in the Western Hemisphere, and one of the most widespread on planet Earth. It is an adaptable, generalist species, occurring in most American habitat types. It prefers habitats with dense underbrush and rocky areas for stalking but also lives in open areas.
The cougar is largely solitary by nature and considered both nocturnal and crepuscular, although daytime sightings do occur. It is an ambush predator that pursues a wide variety of prey. Primary food sources are ungulates, particularly deer, but it also hunts smaller prey, such as rodents. Cougars are territorial and live at low population densities. Individual home ranges 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 American black bears, grizzly bears and wolf packs. It is reclusive and mostly avoids people. Fatal attacks on humans are rare but increased in North America as more people entered cougar habitat and built farms.
Intensive hunting following European colonization of the Americas and ongoing human development into cougar habitat has caused populations to decline in most parts of its historical range. In particular, the eastern cougar population is considered to be mostly locally extinct in eastern North America since the early 20th century, with the exception of the isolated Florida panther subpopulation.
