temperate (warm); tropical (hot and
humid)
Main
Habitat: desert or dune; savanna or grassland; chaparral; forest;
rainforest; scrub forest; mountains.
Other: suburban; agricultural; the
banks of rivers
The
Average
Weight
of an Adult Cougar
29
to 120 kg
(63.8 to
264 lbs)
Length
of an
Adult Cougar
860
to 1540 mm
(33.86 to
60.63 in)
Interesting
information
The fur has a thin and coarse mixture of color. The
main
color ranges from a brownish yellow to brownish gray on the upper parts
and a
paler, almost puffy, color on the belly. The throat and chest are
whitish.
Mountain lions have a pinkish nose with a black border that extends to
the
lips. The muzzle stripes, the area behind the ears, and the tip of tail
are black. The eyes of mature cougars are grayish brown to golden.
The tail is
long, round,
and about one-third of the animal's total length. The limbs are short
and are muscular.
The feet are broad, with four toes on the hind feet and five on front
two. The “big”toe
is small and set above the other toes. The retractable claws are
pointed and
curved. The skull is wide, thick, and short. The region of the forehead
is high
and arched. The mouth and nasal bones are broad. The mandible is short,
deep,
and powerfully constructed.
The carnivor teeth are massive and
long.
The
canines are heavy and compressed. The incisors are small and straight.
Cougars
have one more small premolar on each side of the upper jaw than do
bobcats and
lynx.
The skull is broad, thick, and short, with a high, arched
forehead and
massive teeth modified for grabbing and slicing prey.
Males weigh from 36 to 120
kilograms and females from 29 to 64
kilograms.
Head and body length ranges
from 1020 to
1540 millimeters in males and 860 to 1310 millimeters in females. Tail
lengths
range from 680 to 960 millimeters in males and 630 to 790 millimeters
in
females.
Key
Physical Features
warm blooded;
backbone.
the difference
between a male
and female; a male larger.
Reproduction
Average
Individual
female cougars usually give
birth every two years.
Breeding
season
Mating
throughout the year, in
northern parts of their range mating is more concentrated from December
to
March.
Average number
of cubs
1
to 6; avg. 3
Gestation
period
82
to 96 days
Time to weaning
40
days (average)
Time to
independence
12
months (high)
Average age to
have babies(female)
2.50
years (average
Average age to impregnate(male)
3
years (average)
Males
maintain
territories that overlap with some of the
females. They attempt
to mate with those females.
A cougar
will
not mate until it has established a home
territory.
When the
female is in heat, she vocalizes freely and frequently rubs against
nearby
objects.
The male responds with similar yowls.
The highest frequency of
copulation was nine times in one hour.
There is a 67% chance of a live birth
Mating
systems
With more than one
wife, courtship and
mating occurs throughout the year
Gestation (mating) periods last from 82
to 96
days.
A female mountain lion can come into heat any time of the year.
It usually lasts about nine days.
Females usually give birth every other year.
After six
cycles (in heat) without mating, the female will not go into heat for
at least two months before going in heat again.
Males remain reproductively (mating) active to at least an age of
20
years, and females to at least an age of 12 years.
Litters vary in size
from 1
to 6 cubs with an average of 3 or 4. Birth weight is between 226 to 453
grams.
The cubs open their eyes 10 days after birth. At the same time their
ear pinnae
unfolds, their first teeth erupt, and they begin play. The cubs are
fully
weaned at about 40 days of age. Mother and cubs remain together for as
long as
26 months, though the average is 15 months. Male young disperse from 23
to 274
kilometers, while females disperse from 9 to 140 kilometers. Males
reach sexual
maturity at about 3 years of age and females at 2 1/2 years.
Mother
cougars
care for and nurse
their cubs until they are about a year old. The young are born helpless
and are
protected by the
mother in a sheltered area until they are big enough to roam and begin
to learn
and practice hunting skills.
Parental
investment
female parental
care.
Lifespan
Cougars
may
live up to 18 to 20 years in the wild. They can
live slightly
longer in zoos.
Behavior
Cougars
are
solitary animals, with the
exception of 1 to 6 days of associations during mating and periods of
juvenile dependence.
Population varies from as low as one individual per 85 square
kilometers to as
high as one per 13 to 54 square kilometers, depending on the density of
prey
and other resources in the area. Females with dependent cubs live
within the
wide space used by the resident male. Mountain lions mark their
territories by
depositing urine or fecal materials by trees marked with scrapes.
Mountain
lions are primarily nocturnal. Males are found together immediately
after
leaving their mother, but rarely as established adults. Mountain lions
have
summer and winter home ranges in some areas, requiring a migration
between
ranges.
Key
behaviors
earth dweller;
nocturnal; motile; migratory; sedentary; solitary;
territorial.Communication and Perception
Mountain
lions
rely mainly on vision, smell, and hearing.
They use
low-pitched hisses, growls, purrs, yowls, and screams in different
circumstances. Loud, chirping whistles by young serves to call the
mother.
Touch is important in social bonding between mother and young. Scent
marking is
important in advertising territory boundaries and reproductive state.
Communicates
with: visual; reflexes; acoustic; chemical; scent marks. :
visual;.
Food
Habits
Mountain
lions
are carnivores. Their main prey throughout
their range are
different species of ungulates, including moose, elk, white-tailed
deer, mule deer, and caribou in North America. They
will also
eat smaller creatures like squirrels,
muskrat, porcupine, beaver, raccoon, skunk, coyote, bobcats, other
mountain lions, rabbits, opossums, birds, and even snails and fish.
They may
also prey on domestic livestock, including poultry, calves, sheep,
goats, and
pigs. Mountain lions have a distinctive manner of hunting larger prey.
The lion
quietly stalks the prey animals, then leaps at close range onto their
back and
breaks the animal's neck with a powerful bite below the base of the
skull.
Yearly food consumption is between 860 to 1,300 kg of large prey
animals, about
48 ungulates per lion per year. Mountain lions cache large prey,
dragging it up
to 350 meters from the place of capture and burying it under leaves and
debris.
They return nightly to feed.
Although
mountain lions are secretive and generally avoid
humans, about 4
humans per year fall prey to mountain lions. These are generally small
adults
and children traveling alone during dawn, dusk, or at night. It is
thought that
mountain lions mistake these humans for ungulates.
Primary
Diet
carnivore
Animal
Foods
birds;deer;smaller
animals; fish;amphibians.
Behaviors
stores or caches food.
Predation
Mountain lions are top predators. They
may be preyed on
by other mountain lions, wolves, or bear when they are young or ill.
Ecosystem
Roles
Mountain
lions
are important as top predators in the
ecosystems in which
they live. They are instrumental in controlling populations of large
ungulates.
Economic
Importance
for Human
Negative
Mountain
lions
are considered to be threats to cattle and
also considered a
potential danger to children and adults. These threats are sometimes
exaggerated. It is helpful to learn more about mountain lion behavior
in order
to avoid encounters.
Economic
Importance
for Humans
Positive
Mountain
lions
have considerable trophy value and are hunted
for sport.
They are also captured to be put in zoos. Mountain lions are important
to humans
in their role as top predators, helping to control populations of
ungulates.
Ways that
people benefit from these animals: body parts are
source of valuable material; research and
education; controls pest population.
