The cougar (Puma concolor), also called puma, mountain lion, catamount, and panther, is a large small cat native to the Americas. These cats, often considered the largest of the “small cats” (all wild cats excluding Leopards, Jaguars, Lions and Tigers) go by five different names in different geographic ranges, including mountain lion (Western United States), panther (South Florida), cougar (British Columbia and Alberta, Canada), puma (Central and South America) and catamount (from Indians seeing the cats atop mountains). This article explores the dietary habits of this adaptable and widely distributed apex predator.
Geographic Distribution and Adaptability
The cougar inhabits North, Central and South America, making it the most widely distributed wild, terrestrial mammal in the Western Hemisphere, and one of the most widespread in the world. Its range spans Yukon, British Columbia and Alberta in Canada, the Rocky Mountains and areas in the western United States. Further south, its range extends through Mexico to the Amazon Rainforest and the southern Andes Mountains in Patagonia. It is an adaptable generalist species, occurring in most American habitat types. It prefers habitats with dense underbrush and rocky areas for stalking but also lives in open areas. Their success as a species in the wild is attributed to their vast range and adaptability. They have a vast, and in many locations, continuous range (from Canada to South America) that allows them to have a strong population. These cats have large home territories that vary from 10-20 square miles to several hundred square miles. They prefer thick vegetation and forests in remote areas, from the Rocky Mountains, to subtropical South Florida, to the jungles of South America.
Generalist Hypercarnivore
The cougar is a generalist hypercarnivore. As opportunistic feeders, mountain lions eat a variety of prey, from small rodents to larger mammals, including deer. In the wild, mountain lions, like most cats, are carnivores. Their diets consist of an array of different size prey, depending on geographic regions, appropriate prey species in those regions, etc. Common meals are elk, deer, sheep, hogs, armadillos, rabbits, rodents, birds and more. Their most common prey is mule deer, but they will take down whatever they can.
Primary Prey: Ungulates
It prefers large mammals such as mule deer, white-tailed deer, elk, moose, mountain goat and bighorn sheep. Ungulates, particularly deer, are its primary prey. A survey of North America research found 68% of prey items were ungulates, especially deer. A study on winter kills from November to April in Alberta showed that ungulates accounted for greater than 99% of the cougar diet.
Opportunistic Hunting and Dietary Variation
It opportunistically takes smaller prey such as rodents, lagomorphs, smaller carnivores, birds, and even domestic animals, including pets. While the majority of the species favors mule deer, Santa Ana’s Department of Natural Resources discovered some surprising information while tracking a mountain lion named Brokenleg.
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Only the Florida panther showed variation, often preferring feral hogs and armadillos. In the Central and South American cougar range area, the ratio of deer in the diet declines. Small to mid-sized mammals, including large rodents such as the capybara, are preferred. Ungulates accounted for only 35% of prey items in one survey, about half that of North America. Cougars have been known to prey on introduced gemsbok populations in New Mexico. One individual cougar was recorded as hunting 29 gemsbok, which made up 58% of its recorded kills. While it’s more common to find them making a quick meal out of deer, rabbits, and other smaller animals, mountain lions will occasionally kill and eat larger predators, such as coyotes and black bears. However, mountain lions don’t usually target black bears, and will only attack the larger animal when a conflict arises, most often a territorial dispute.
Hunting Techniques and Consumption
Although capable of sprinting, the cougar is typically an ambush predator. Mountain lions are ambush hunters who like to lie on ledges or along tree limbs and fall on their prey from above. It stalks through brush and trees, across ledges, or other covered spots, before delivering a powerful leap onto the back of its prey and a suffocating neck bite. The cougar can break the neck of some of its smaller prey with a strong bite and momentum bearing the animal to the ground. Kills are generally estimated around one large ungulate every two weeks. In a single meal, mountain lions, also called cougars, can eat between 20 and 30 pounds of meat, especially if they’ve recently hunted a large animal. The period shrinks for females raising young, and may be as short as one kill every three days when cubs are nearly mature around 15 months. The cat drags a kill to a preferred spot, covers it with brush, and returns to feed over a period of days. Mountain lions don’t always eat fresh kill. While they won’t scavenge as other animals might, they have been known to bury their prey and eat off the remains for nearly two weeks.
Competition and Predation
Aside from humans, no species preys upon mature cougars in the wild, although conflicts with other predators or scavengers occur. Investigations at Yellowstone National Park showed that elk and mule deer were the cougar's primary prey; the prey base is shared with the park's wolves, with which the cougar competes for resources. Of the large predators in Yellowstone National Park - the grizzly and black bears, gray wolf and cougar - the massive grizzly bear appears dominant, often (though not always) able to drive a gray wolf pack, black bear or cougar off their kills. One study found that grizzlies and American black bears visited 24% of cougar kills in Yellowstone and Glacier National Parks, usurping 10% of carcasses. In Colorado and California, black bears were found to visit 48% and 77% of kills, respectively. In general, cougars are subordinate to black bears when it comes to kills, and when bears are most active, the cats take prey more frequently and spend less time feeding on each kill.
The gray wolf and the cougar compete more directly for prey, mostly in winter. Packs of wolves can steal cougars' kills, and there are some documented cases of cougars being killed by them. One report describes a large pack of seven to 11 wolves killing a female cougar and her kittens, while in nearby Sun Valley, Idaho, a 2-year-old male cougar was found dead, apparently killed by a wolf pack. Conversely, one-to-one confrontations tend to be dominated by the cat, and there are various documented accounts where wolves have been ambushed and killed, including adult male specimens. Wolves more broadly affect cougar population dynamics and distribution by dominating territory and prey opportunities, and disrupting the feline's behavior.
Social Behavior and Hunting Territories
The cougar is a mostly solitary animal. Only mothers and kittens live in groups, with adults meeting rarely. Subadult cougars of same sexes have been known to temporarily form sibling groups. While generally loners, cougars will reciprocally share kills and seem to organize themselves into small communities defined by the territories of dominant males. Male home ranges include or overlap with females but, at least where studied, not with those of other males. The home ranges of females overlap slightly.
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Cub Diet and Development
Like all mammals, a mountain lion cub’s first food is their mother’s milk. Cubs may nurse for seven weeks before they are weaned and begin eating solid food. Once they’re fully weaned, at around four to six months old, they’ll be able to start hunting their own prey, usually smaller animals like rabbits and skunks. Only females are involved in parenting, which includes protecting and nursing the cubs and teaching the cubs how to be defensive, find shelter and perhaps most important, hunt. Cub survival rate to adulthood is roughly 50%.
Human Interaction and Conservation Status
Despite those positive notes, like other large animals, mountain lions are also negatively affected by humans encroaching on and destroying their habitats (they were once prevalent in the Eastern United States too, and their overall population is thought to be steady or declining). The cougar has been listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List since 2008. However, it is also listed on CITES Appendix II. Hunting it is prohibited in California, Costa Rica, Honduras, Nicaragua, Guatemala, Panama, Venezuela, Colombia, French Guiana, Suriname, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Paraguay, Uruguay and most of Argentina. Hunting is regulated in Canada, Mexico, Peru, and the United States.
Attacks on Humans: A Rare Occurrence
You’re more likely to have trouble with man’s best friend than you are with a mountain lion. While mountain lions could easily kill a human, they don’t see humans as a part of the menu and aren’t likely to attack. They also tend to avoid areas where humans live, making encounters unlikely. Attacks on humans are very rare, as cougar prey recognition is a learned behavior and they do not generally recognize humans as prey.
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