Cougar

The word cougar is comes from French couguar, via Portuguese cuguardo, a deformation of Brazilian Portuguese suçuarana (earlier çuçuarana), perhaps from Old Tupi sûasuarana (“deerlike animal”), from suasú (“deer”, due to looks like deer in appearance for cougar); compare sɨwasuarána (“cervine”)) or perhaps from Guaraní guaçuara).

• Singular: Cougar

• Plural: Cougars

The word catamount is clipping of catamountain (“leopard, panther; ocelot; man living in the mountains”), from Late Middle English catamountain, from Middle English catte of the mountayne, cate of þe mounttaynne (“leopard, panther”).

• Singular: Catamount

• Plural: Catamounts

The word itself, puma, is Borrowed from Spanish puma, from Quechua puma, also it comes from Proto-Quechuan *puma.

• Singular: Puma

• Plural: Pumas

The cougar has a round head and upright ears. It can catch and hold enormous prey with the help of its strong neck, jaw, and forequarters. Its forepaws have five retractile claws, one of which is a dewclaw, while its hindpaws have four retractile claws. The bigger claws and front foot are adaptations for gripping prey.

Cougars are slender and agile members of the Felidae. Cougar coloring is plain (hence the Latin concolor ["one color"] in the scientific name) but can vary greatly across individuals, and even siblings.

The coat is typically tawny, but it otherwise ranges from silvery-grey to reddish with lighter patches on the underbody, including the jaws, chin, and throat. Infants are spotted and born with blue eyes and rings on their tails; juveniles are pale, and dark spots remain on their flanks. A leucistic individual was seen in Serra dos Órgãos National Park in Rio de Janeiro in 2013 when it was recorded by a camera trap, indicating that pure white individuals do exist within the species, though they are extremely rare. There is no report on the melanistic version of this species from past to present.

The cougar is most closely related to the jaguarundi and the cheetah.

The cougar's bigger front foot and claws are an adaptation for gripping prey. The cougar's remarkable ability to leap and run short distances is made possible by its enormous paws and, in relation, the largest hind legs among the Felidae. The cougar uses strength and agility. It can run up to 80 km/h (50 mph) in brief bursts and leap up to 6 m vertically and 12 m horizontally.

When cougars do attack, they typically use their distinctive neck bite, trying to insert their teeth into the spinal cord by putting them between the vertebrae. Injuries to the head, neck, and spine are frequent and occasionally fatal. Youngsters are least likely to survive an encounter and are most vulnerable to attacks. The cougar can take prey up to ten times its weight, such as deer or guanacos, and uses powerful jaws to administer a smothering bite to the neck. Extensive analysis of attacks that occurred before 1991 revealed that minors accounted for 64% of all victims and nearly all fatalities.

The cougar is a skilled climber that can scale cliffs and trees to avoid danger or ambush prey. Because it is a silent stalker, this cat uses its stealth to lurk and attack prey with a quick sprint. The cougar's adaptability allows it to flourish in a variety of environments, including desert scrublands, the high-altitude Andes, tropical rainforests, and the American Midwest.

For the most part, cougars live alone. Its activity pattern varies between protected and non-protected environments, ranging from diurnality and cathemerality to crepuscularity and nocturnality. It appears to be associated with the presence of humans, livestock, other predators, and prey species. It is a predator that ambushes a broad range of animals. As a keystone species and apex predator in North and South American ecosystems, cougars play a trophic role. The cougar also hunted baby versions of Pukei-pukei, Kulu Ya-Ku, Tzitzi Ya-ku, Anjanath, Zinogre, Rathian and Rathalos, Legiana, Jyuratodus, and others.

The North American cougar is a carnivore, and its main sources of prey are deer, elk, mountain goats, moose, bighorn sheep, pronghorns, groundhogs, rats, cranes, herons, bitterns, spoonbills, and others. Despite being a large predator, the North American cougar can also be the prey of larger predators like wolves and bears. The North American cougar usually hunts at night and sometimes travels long distances in search of food. They are short-distance sprinters and can remain hidden for hours to surprise unsuspecting prey and pounce when they least expect it.

They use their strong jaws and large canines to puncture the neck of their prey, breaking the neck and efficiently killing their prey. They also grab their prey by the throat to suffocate it. It is fast and can maneuver quite easily and skillfully. Depending on the abundance of prey, such as deer, it shares the same prey as the jaguar in Central or North America. Other sympatric predators include the grizzly bear and American black bears. Cougars are known to prey on bear cubs. Cougars in the Great Basin have been recorded to prey on feral horses, as well as feral donkeys in the Sonoran and Mojave Deserts.

Rivalry between the cougar and grizzly bear was a popular topic in North America. Fights between them were staged, and those in the wilderness were recorded by people across the Americas, including Native Americans.

Depending on its location, the puma hunts a variety of species; in the northern, more tropical regions, prey consists of many species of birds, primates, opossums, and rodents (including agouti, capybara, paca, and rats, as well as brocket deer, white-tailed deer, taruca, white-lipped and collared peccary, South American tapir, sloths, frogs, lizards, and snakes). In the western and northwestern regions of South America, pumas sometimes prey on spectacled bear cubs.

Further south, the cats prey on guanaco, vicuña, pudu, South Andean deer, pampas deer, Patagonian mara, viscacha, rhea, Andean mountain cat, and South American fox, as well as livestock such as sheep, goats, poultry, cattle, llama, and alpaca. Certain populations may also hunt and prey on non-native, introduced species, such as red deer, blackbuck, or North American beaver. In San Guillermo National Park, the vicuña is the puma's main prey species and constitutes about 80% of its diet. However, they will abandon kills if not cached quickly, as they will often be harassed by birds of prey, such as Andean condors; the presence of large raptors and other scavenging birds causes pumas to kill and store 50% more prey than North American cougars.

Adult cougars have few natural predators. In overlapping regions, they may be killed by jaguars, bison, crocodiles, American black bears, spectacled bears, brown bears, and others. Through "trophic cascades," this species' ecosystem significance fosters biodiversity; by maintaining the equilibrium of herbivore populations, its presence helps entire ecosystems.

Ungulates, notably deer, are its main prey, but it also hunts rodents. It is territorial and dwells in areas with low population densities. Individual home ranges are determined by terrain, vegetation, and the amount of prey. Despite its size, it is not always the main apex predator in its territory, and it often loses prey to others. It is solitary and often avoids people. Fatal attacks on humans are uncommon, although they have increased in North America as more people have entered cougar territory and established farms.

Reproduction

Mating season:

• Year-round, but peaks vary by region.

Gestation:

• ~90–96 days.

Litter size:

1–6 cubs, usually 2–3.

Parental care:

• Females care for cubs alone; young stay with the mother up to 2 years to learn hunting.

Sexual maturity:

• 2–3 years.

Lifespan:

• 8–13 years in the wild; up to 20 years in captivity.

The topography, vegetation, and quantity of prey determine the cougar's home ranges. The cougar is not always the main apex predator in its habitat, despite its size; it occasionally gives prey to other predators. It is solitary and largely stays away from humans.

Cougars are primarily crepuscular and nocturnal animals, though they can be active during the day in isolated areas. With the exception of moms with pups or during mating, cougars are solitary. Large territories that encompass the ranges of multiple females are maintained by the male cougars. The cougar employs scent marking, scraping, and vocalizations (screams, growls, and chirps) to communicate. Unlike lions, it cannot roar; instead, it lets out a piercing scream or "woman-like" shriek. The cougar uses a stalk-and-ambush hunting tactic, approaching covertly before leaping with great speed.

The cougar is a shy, elusive, and non-aggressive feline that often stays away from people unless it is cornered or provoked. It is not advisable to approach wild cougars because they are unfriendly. Captive-reared people can put up with caregivers in sanctuaries, but they are still erratic. Ranchers may take revenge when the cougar attacks livestock. Human attacks are extremely uncommon and mostly defensive.

Although human fatalities are uncommon, they have grown in North America as more people have established farms and invaded cougar territory. Like the jaguar, the cougar holds historical cultural significance amongst many Native Americans of South America. People in the Andes regard the puma as being either a snatcher of souls, or as helper of people. The cougar's name was used for Incan regions and people. The Chankas, who were enemies of the Incas, had the cougar as their deity.

The cougar's range includes the Western United States, the Rocky Mountains, and the provinces of Alberta, British Columbia, and Yukon in Canada. Its range continues southward through Mexico to the southern Andes Mountains of Patagonia and the Amazon Rainforest. It is a versatile, omnivorous species that can be found in most types of American habitat. Although it may survive in wide spaces, it favors settings with lots of underbrush and rocky spots for stalking.

In the 2600s and 2700s, the "Sky People," or Terrans from Earth, sent the two cougar subspecies to two exoplanets that resembled Earth: Reinachos from Cygnus and Berbania from Ursa Major. Human interactions for game hunting and rewilding produced this species, but they backfired when the cougar became an invasive species. In two exoplanets that resembled Earth, cougars thrived in environments and climates identical to those of Earth.

• Movement Pattern: Random

• Individual Type: Solo

• Population Trend: Stable

• Population: ???

• Locomotion: Terrestrial

• Habitat: Tundra; Taiga; Montane Grasslands and Shrublands; Temperate Coniferous Forests; Temperate Broadleaf and Mixed Forests; Temperate Deciduous Forests, Temperate Grasslands, Savannas, and Shrublands; Subtropical Coniferous Forests; Subtropical Moist Broadleaf Forests; Subtropical Dry Broadleaf Forests; Subtropical Grasslands, Savannas, and Shrublands; Salt Flats; Stone Forest; Tropical Coniferous Forests; Tropical Moist Broadleaf Forests; Tropical Dry Broadleaf Forests; Tropical Grasslands; Tropical Savannas and Shrublands; Mediterranean Forests, Woodlands, and Scrub; Deserts and Xeric Shrublands; Badlands; Flooded Grasslands and Savannas; Swamp; Bayous/Billabongs; Riparian; Wetland; Mangrove Forest; Cold Bamboo Forests; Tropical Bamboo Forests; Air-breathing Coral Reefs; Graveyard Vale; Mountain; Karst Cave; Karst Spring; Lush Cavern; Radiated Citadel; Volcano; Warm Ghost Town; Cold Ghost Town; Ruined Skyscraper.

• Earth: 

  • Extant (Resident): Argentina; Belize; Bolivia; Brazil; Canada; Chile; Colombia; Costa Rica; Ecuador; El Salvador; French Guiana; Guatemala; Guyana; Honduras; Mexico; Nicaragua; Panama; Paraguay; Peru; Suriname; United States; Venezuela

  • Presence Uncertain: Uruguay

Though a privately owned cougar will eventually grow accustomed to its owners, it can never be domesticated like a dog or a cat. The cougars were tranquilized by bullets, made unconscious, fed meat and berries while unconscious, and used narcotics to continuously overdose. If this species isn't already trained, you can tame it with meat, berries, or eggs.

19th Century

The nineteenth-century naturalists Félix de Azara and William Henry Hudson thought that attacks on people, even children or sleeping adults, did not happen. Hudson, citing anecdotal evidence from hunters, claimed that pumas were positively inhibited from attacking people, even in self-defense. Attacks on humans, although exceedingly rare, have occurred.

Between 1890 and 1990 in North America, there were 53 reported, confirmed attacks on humans, resulting in 48 nonfatal injuries and 10 deaths of humans (the total is greater than 53 because some attacks had more than one victim).

2 October, 1999 AD

NOTE: this case is highly contentious and experts vary in opinion as to whether or not this was an official cougar attack.

Jaryd Atadero was a three-year-old American boy who went missing on October 2, 1999, while hiking with a Christian social group on Big South Trail, a part of the Arapaho & Roosevelt National Forest in Colorado. His partial remains were found by two businessmen on a hiking trip on May 6, 2003. Atadero's disappearance and killing remain a cold case and anomaly noted for the fact that the boy's cause of death has never been officially classified. While often reported as a mountain lion attack, experts on felids have argued that the discovered remains do not meet the typical patterns of a mountain lion attack. Other experts believed that Atadero had been the victim of an abduction and murder.

March 13, 2012 AD

On March 13, 2012, Erica Cruz, a 23-year-old shepherdess was found dead in a mountainous area near Rosario de Lerma, Salta Province, in northwestern Argentina. Claw incisions, which severed a jugular vein, indicated that the attacker was a felid; differential diagnosis ruled out other possible perpetrators. There were no bite marks on the victim, who had been herding goats.

Earth

• Tagalog: Puma, leong-bundok

• Ilokano: Halimaw bukid, leon-bukid, puma

• Jawa: Puma

• Maori: Ngeru puma, puma, raiona maunga

• Thai: เสือพูม่า, เสือคูการ์, สิงโตภูเขา

• Tiếng Việt: Báo sư tử

• Hebrew: פומה

• Diné bizaad: Náshdóítsoh

• Mandarin: 美洲狮

• Nihongo: ピューマ

• Hangul: 퓨마

• Türkçe: Puma, Dağ aslanı

• Magyar: Puma, kaguár, hegyi oroszlán, párduc, ezüstoroszlán, catamount, festett macska

• Eesti: Puuma

• Suomi: Puuma

• Esperanto: Pumo

• Italiano: Puma, Coguaro, Leone di montagna

• Français: Puma, Cougar, Lion des montagnes

• Walon: Puma

• Català: Puma, Lleó de muntanya

• Español: Puma

• Aragonés: Puma

• Português: jaguaruna, onça-parda, onça-vermelha, puma, suçuarana, leão-baio

• Farsi: شیر کوهی

• Lietuvių: Puma

• Беларуская: Пума

• Български: Пума

• Русский: Пума

• Polski: puma płowa (Пума пљова), puma (Пума), kuguar (кугуар), lew górski (лев горски)

• Hrvatski: Puma

• Македонски: Пума

• Čeština: Puma americká

• Slovenščina: Puma

• Deutsch: Puma

• Nederlands: Poema

• English: Cougar, Mountain lion, puma, american lion, catamount, mountain cat, fire cat, shadow cat, shadow tiger, panther

• Dansk: Puma

• Norsk: Fjelløve, Puma

• Svenska: Puma

• Nāhuatl: Miztli

• Tsalagi: ᏢᏓᏥ

• Runa Simi: Puma

• Coming soon

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cougar

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_American_cougar

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_American_cougar

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_fatal_cougar_attacks_in_North_America

• https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/18868/97216466

• https://species.wikimedia.org/wiki/Puma_concolor

• https://animaldiversity.org/accounts/Puma_concolor/

• https://www.biolib.cz/en/taxon/id1995/

• https://www.gbif.org/species/2435099

• https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/42007-Puma-concolor

• https://www.deviantart.com/ognimdo2002/art/Cougar-1059019090