Cougar

The Ghost Cat of the Western Wilderness

Roaming silently through rugged mountain canyons from the Canadian Yukon all the way to the Strait of Magellan in Chile, the Cougar (Puma concolor) holds the broadest geographic range of any native land mammal in the Western Hemisphere. Also known as the mountain lion, puma, or panther, this solitary ambush predator moves through wilderness landscapes like a ghost.

Males weigh 36 to 120 kilograms (about 80 to 265 pounds), and in Washington adult males average about 140 pounds and stand about 30 inches at the shoulder. The cougar belongs to the subfamily Felinae, while the lion, tiger and jaguar belong to Pantherinae. It cannot roar like a lion or tiger; instead, it growls, hisses and purrs like smaller cats, and lets out blood-curdling screams.

Spring-Loaded Leaping

The cougar relies on short, explosive bursts of speed to ambush its prey, and its long hind legs make it an agile, impressive jumper.

A cougar can leap as high as 18 feet (5.5 meters) straight up and cover 40 feet (about 12 meters) horizontally in one bound, according to the National Park Service.

Thirty Feet Out Cougars stalk quietly to within 30 feet of their prey, then leap onto its back with a suffocating neck bite. The impact can be enough to break the prey’s neck; if it isn’t, the cougar delivers the killing bite.

Master of the Camouflaged Stash

After bringing down a deer or elk, a cougar usually drags it to a secluded spot under cover to feed. It returns to feed several times: a large male in Washington’s Cascade Mountains eats up to 20 pounds at a time and buries the rest for later.

It often covers the remains with snow, grass, leaves, sticks or soil. A cougar may stay near this camouflaged meat locker for six to eight days, guarding it against scavengers and feeding on it.