Mountain Lion
Puma concolor
Despite their large size, mountain lions cannot roar; instead, they purr like domestic cats and produce piercing, scream-like calls.
- Scientific name
- Puma concolor
- Taxonomy
- Animalia › Chordata › Mammalia › Carnivora › Felidae › Puma
- IUCN Red List status
- Least Concern
- Population trend
- decreasing
- Biome
- forest
- Habitat
- Coniferous and deciduous forests, grasslands, deserts, and montane regions.
- Diet
- Carnivorous; feeds mainly on deer, elk, and smaller mammals like rabbits.
- Range
- North America, Central America, South America
- Size
- 1.5 to 2.7 meters (5 to 9 feet) in length; weight ranges from 29 to 100 kg (64 to 220 lbs).
- Lifespan
- 8 to 13 years in the wild
- Active
- crepuscular
- Threats
- Habitat fragmentation, poaching, vehicle collisions, and retaliatory killing due to livestock conflicts.
- Safe to approach?
- Dangerous and defensive. If you encounter a mountain lion, do not run, as this can trigger their chase instinct. Make yourself look as large as possible by raising your arms, speak in a loud, firm voice, and maintain eye contact. Slowly back away. If the animal attacks, fight back aggressively with any available objects or your bare hands. Seek emergency medical care immediately if bitten or clawed.
The cougar ( Puma concolor ), also commonly known as the mountain lion , puma , panther , or catamount , is a large felid of the subfamily Felinae native to the Americas. Its range, from the Canadian Yukon to the southern Andes of South America, is the most widespread of any large wild terrestrial mammal in the Western Hemisphere. An adaptable, generalist species, the cougar is found in most American habitat types. It is the second-heaviest cat in the New World,...
Photo: Elaine R. Wilson, CC-BY-SA, via iNaturalist
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