He is also a contributing editor of My House Rabbit. There have been widely debated reports of possible recolonization of eastern North America. [35] Its most important prey species are various deer species, particularly in North America; mule deer, white-tailed deer, elk, and even bull moose are taken. Due to their solitary nature, cougars will avoid another territory except when they are ready to mate. Due to the overlap of female territories, young males generally have to travel further to find a new territory, sometimes two to four times as far as females.
[a] There were no bite marks on the victim, who had been herding goats. Aside from humans, no species preys upon mature cougars in the wild, although conflicts with other predators or scavengers occur.
[148][149] In Nevada in 1992, cougars were confirmed to have killed nine calves, one horse, four foals, five goats, 318 sheep, and 400 lambs. [13] Other names include panther, painter and catamount. [36] On average, adult male cougars in British Columbia weigh 56.7 kg (125 lb) and adult females 45.4 kg (100 lb), though several male cougars in British Columbia weighed between 86.4 and 95.5 kg (190 and 211 lb).
"[83], Both species are capable of killing mid-sized predators, such as bobcats, Canada lynx, wolverines and coyotes, and tend to suppress their numbers.
They have slender bodies and round heads with pointed ears. They raise the young while the males return to their solitary lifestyles. While males can weigh up to 68 kg (150 lb. Miami-Dade Counties and Collier County are the areas with the largest populations. [26], Cougars are slender and agile members of the Felidae. [107] Juveniles remain with their mothers at least for two years. Infants are spotted and born with blue eyes and rings on their tails;[33] juveniles are pale and dark spots remain on their flanks. Intensive hunting following European colonization of the Americas and the ongoing human development into cougar habitat has caused the cougar populations to drop in most parts of its historical range. Game birds are a diverse group and have adapted to living in various habitats from deserts to tundra. All four confirmed cougar kills in Iowa since 2000 involved males.
They typically average one litter every two to three years throughout their reproductive lives,[103] though the period can be as short as one year. Many of these areas do not have a resident population, with sightings coming from juveniles that are transiting through the area to find a new territory. [157], In North America, mythological descriptions of the cougar have appeared in the stories of the Hocąk language ("Ho-Chunk" or "Winnebago") of Wisconsin and Illinois[158] and the Cheyenne, amongst others. Feline immunodeficiency virus, an endemic HIV-like virus in cats, is well-adapted to the cougar. Although many are the result of former captive cougars who escaped or were released, there is a possibility of recolonization of cougars in the east. Newfoundland and Prince Edward Island on the East Coast have also never been home to cougars. Cougars are wild animals and will stray into states where they are not normally seen, but most live in the West of North America, with small populations in Florida on the East Coast. Cougars involved in human conflict may be live-trapped by trained fish and wildlife personnel and moved to more remote areas, or removed. Cougars can be found in nine counties in Florida.
[20] but the relationship is unresolved.
[135][136], Research on new wildlife collars may be able to reduce human-animal conflicts by predicting when and where predatory animals hunt.
[35] Cougars appear better than jaguars at exploiting a broader prey niche and smaller prey. [35] The largest recorded cougar, shot in 1901, weighed 105.2 kg (232 lb); claims of 125.2 kg (276 lb) and 118 kg (260 lb) have been reported, though they were most likely exaggerated.