Mountain Lion (Puma concolor)

Mountain Lion (Puma concolor)

Commonly known as the Mountain Lion, Puma, or Cougar, Puma concolor is a large and powerful cat native to the Americas (North, Central, and South). This highly adaptable predator can be found in a wide variety of habitats including tropical jungles, alpine forests, and desert plains. In these given habitats, mountain lions often make use of the terrain during hunting sessions. Outcroppings of rock, boulders, and steep passages often aid these cats in their stalk-ambush approach to hunting. 

Puma concolor  is considered to be a large, apex predator weighing in at about 136 lbs (62kg). Their total body length (from head to base of tail) ranges from about 3.25 - 5.25 ft. (1 to 1.6 m), with their tails reaching about 23.5 to 33.5 in (60 to 85 cm) in length. 

Mountain Lions rely heavily on deer and other ungulates as a food source, but they will also eat meso-predators such as coyotes or raccoon. As mentioned above, Puma concolor is a stalking predator. These solitary hunters prefer to hunt at night or during the early morning hours. Mountain Lions typically ambush their prey, inflicting a fatal bite to the back of the prey's neck. The Cougar's canines pierce into the flesh at the base of the skull, wedging between the vertebrae and forcing them apart.  This, in turn, severs the prey's spinal cord. After a successful kill, Puma concolor typically remain near the location where the prey was killed, returning to both feed upon the carcass and protect it from scavengers. 

Like many large predators,  Mountain Lions are now considered endangered in their native range. Due to over-hunting and habitat loss, about 30,000 remain in the wild today.