Range

Ranging throughout the entirety of the Americas in the past the cougars now inhabit a small portion of their past range. Cougars were once found throughout all of North and South America apart from Canada. Now they are only found in the Eastern and middle united states but most of their home in South America remains apart from small pockets that they have been removed from.

Habitat

Their adaptable nature has led to their success as a species. They live in all varieties of forest and many of the desert areas. Areas with dense underbrush are preferred though they have been known to live in canyons, escarpments and dense brush.

Reproduction

Female cougars are able to reproduce 8 days out of a 23 day cycle. During this time it is believed they will only mate with one male. They will mate many times with the male.

After 91 days the female finds a cave or alcove where she can give birth. In this cave she will deposit 1-6 blind cubs. These cubs are covered in spots that help them to blend in with their environment. The mother does all the caring for the cubs. She will fiercely defend them even managing to fight off black bears at times.

As they grow the cubs begin to head out to prey the mother has buried. Soon enough they will hunt small prey items while on these forays.

At 2 years of age the cubs are ready to go out on their own though a few animals, mainly males, will have already left by this point. These animals may travel large distances to establish their own territory.

They are able to breed by the time they are 1 ½ to 3 years old. Females have a litter of cubs every 2-3 years.

Behaviour

The cougar is a solitary animal which only meets up with others for mating.

Cougars are secretive being rarely seen. They exhibit a crepuscular behaviour pattern meaning they are mostly active at dawn and dusk.

No natural predators of the cougar exist. There have been instances though of bears being able to steal prey off of cougars. They are also smaller in size throughout South America as they eat smaller prey so as not to compete with the jaguar.

Cougars do not roar as big cats do instead they purr much like a house cat.

Quick facts

The cougar is known by many names. Over 40 different names have been recorded including mountain lion, puma, cougar and panther. These names all have different origins.

The name mountain lion comes from the early Spanish explorers who called it ‘gato monte’ which translates to ‘cat of the mountain.’

The name ‘panther’ is a generalised term which refers to a cat with a solid coloured coat which they have.

The name cougar comes from an old word that South American Indians had which was, cuguacuarana which got shortened to cuguar and was then spelled differently. Puma is the commonly accepted scientific term.

One subspecies of cougar the Florida panther now only numbers 50 in a heavily reduced range.