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Project Noah Nature School
Puma concolor
Cougar, Mountain Lion, Puma, Panther, they have many names. A Cougar is a large tan colored cat. They can weigh between 100 – 145lbs. They have thick fur, and very little body fat. Mountain lions are solitary except for a short breeding period of up to two weeks duration. The gestation period is about 3 months. The number of young ranges from two to five, averaging three. At birth, the kittens are woolly, spotted, have short tails, and weigh about 450 g each. They develop teeth when about a month old, are weaned when about 2 or 3 months old, and may remain with their mother until more than 1 year old. Adult females usually breed for the first time between two and three years of age, and breed once every two or three years afterward. They may live for 15 - 18 years in the wild. Cougars are predators. That means they hunt other animals for food. Their favorite meal is a deer. Cougars eat up to ten pounds of meat a day. That's 40 Hamburgers!
Once almost pushed to extinction, their numbers are now on the rise.They like to live in wild places like mountains, forests or swamps.
I love this animal. I've been tracking one in the wild trying to get pictures of it, but until then enjoy this! Sonoma County Animal Rescue Center. This big girl is a permanent resident. I do not know her story yet.
Spotted on Aug 9, 2012
Submitted on Aug 9, 2012
7 Comments
thanks :)
Cute
Yes to all that haha. I know the chances of me getting attacked are low and death considerably lower. and it's wierd too because i've seen a mountain lion take out a reindeer on a documentary, clear as day, and it has to be one of the most efficient big cats at hunting. i mean flat boom in a half second dead. and in the same documentary showed one of the wildlife specialists actually getting attacked but not very efficient attacking on the lions end, more like violent playing. so that tells me they might be testing humans reactions. but they also mostly attack humans when they're desperate for food. in any case i have already accidentally walked into the lions den, literally, and now i have to watch my back for real.
Being stalked and attacked by a cougar would be very scary indeed!! The American Lion by Kevin Hansen (1992) says: "Mountain lion attacks do seem to have increased in the last 20 years. There were more fatal attacks during the last 21 years than during the previous 80 years . Authorities generally believe there are two reasons for the increase: mountain lion populations are growing in some areas because states and provinces have changed the cats status from bountied predator to a game species and, in the case of California, have given the puma complete protection. Simultaneously, human populations are growing, along with their use of wildlands, which has increased the potential for encounters." [http://www.mountainlion.org/CAL_ch5.asp]. Still, attacks seem to happen less frequently with fatal consequences than people believe. The Arizona Sierra Club reports: "In the last 100 years [apparently to about 2005], only 14 fatal cougar attacks occurred on the entire North American continent. In that time, more than 15,000 people were killed by lightning; 4,000 by bees; 10,000 by deer; and 1,300 by rattlesnakes." [http://www.arizona.sierraclub.org/conservation/mt-lion/index.asp] Another site tracking information on cougars says from the 1970s up to 9 July 2009, there were 114 attacks, resulting in 17 fatalities [http://www.cougarinfo.org/stats.html].
Haha thanks guys. yeah i'll watch my back ;)
These are beauties,until of course they decide to stalk you!
A beautiful cat. Joshua, can you tell us the story of this animal - why was it rescued and will it be released at any point?