Bobcat, Mt. Lion, Puma, Cougar-
Are they all the same, or different?

Puma, Cougar, Mountain Lion. A Cat of Many Names!

Habitat: Quite diverse. Deserts, mountain forests and lowland swamps.
Range: Throughout North and South America
Diet: White-tailed deer, mule deer, sheep, rodents, rabbits, porcupines, and beavers.
Life Span: Average between 10 and 15 years of age.
Life Cycle: Females give birth to 1-6 cubs in the spring. The average litter size is 3. The young stay with their mother for 1-2 years.
Markings: Young cubs have spots and blue eyes. Adult coloration varies from red-brown to silver-gray.
Adaptations: Most agile and biggest jumper of the big cats. Pumas can jump from a standing position up to 13 feet and from a run up to 39 feet. They can also run very quickly.
Facts: Pumas are most active in the morning and in the evening. These cats are also quite solitary. They have been know to travel over 25 miles in a night. Males have been know to kill up to 100 small mammals per year. In its movements and general behavior, the puma is like the domestic cat.
Conservation Status: The puma is becoming more rare and some subspecies are threatened with extinction. One reason for this is the loss of habitat.

Above information from:
http://www.accesskent.com/CultureLeisureAndTransit/Zoo/zoo_feature.htm

Identification

General description: The cougar looks like a tan house cat, but it is larger than a large dog. Its long rope-like tail hangs nearly to the ground and then curls up again.
Length: Adult cougars are 6 to 9 feet long, including the tail.
Weight: : Adult cougars weigh 100 to 200 pounds.
Color: Cougars are usually described as "tawny" in color (tan to tan-orange).

Reproduction

Cougars mate in late winter. Females are pregnant for nearly three months. Up to three kittens may be born. Only a few cougar kittens have ever been seen in Minnesota, and they likely were from pet cougars.

Food

Cougars eat a wide range of medium-and large-sized prey, from rabbits to deer. They sometimes attack and injure horses. Cougars both ambush and chase their prey. They are the most efficient large predators in the state.

Predators

Cougars have no natural predators.

Habitat and range

The DNR has received reports of cougars from across Minnesota. But only a few reports have proven to be true. Cougars can live wherever their main prey, deer, are present.

Population and management

The cougar is a protected species in Minnesota, meaning that it cannot be hunted or trapped. It is unknown how many cougar sightings are of escaped or released pet cougars, which people can buy from game farms and legally own.

Fun facts

The cougar is extremely rare and secretive, and few Minnesotans have ever seen one. There are no reports of cougars attacking humans in Minnesota. Biologists believe that the cougars in Minnesota are wandering through from the mountainous western states.

For more information...

Find out more about the Cougar from:

• Minnesota D.N.R. - Cougar
• Wildcats! (article of the Young Naturalists in the publication)
• U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service-Division of Endangered Species
• Western North Carolina Nature Center

http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/young_naturalists/wildcats/index.html

Canada Lynx

Cougar

       Cougar/Mountain Lion