Cougar

Cougar on a Mountaintop 

The cougar is one of the most athletic of all animals.  They have been known to jump safely from the top of a 30+ foot tree.  They routinely can jump 20 feet while running down a mountainside.  They also can jump 18 feet straight up into a tree.  They are predators and live a solitary life.  They do not hunt or live in packs except perhaps a female with her partly grown young.  A female usually has around 3 or 4 cubs but sometimes they have 6..  They are the largest of the small cats.  The females weigh up to 105 lbs (48 kg) and the males weigh up to 158 lbs (72 kg).  They are up to 5 feet long (1.55 m) and that is just the body.  If you count the tail they are 8 feet (2.44 m) long.

Mountain lions (another name for cougars) are a tawny color that is somewhat darker on their backs.  Their underside is white.  They often have unique facial markings from panther (another name) to panther.  They have a black spot at the end of their tail.  Their scientific name is Puma concolor. 

Cougars eat deer and elk, but have been known to prey on big horn sheep, coyotes, rabbits, porcupines and raccoons.  A healthy cougar will kill a deer or elk every week to 10 days...but more often if it is a mother raising cubs.

There are many names for the cougar.  Here is a list.  It probably is not comprehensive though:
Cougar, Mountain Lion, Panther, Catamount, Mountain Screamer, Devil Cat, Painter, Sneak Cat, Devil Cat, Deer Cat, Fire Cat , Plain Lion, Grey Lion, Caracajou, Indian Devil, Klandagi, Catawampus, Quinquajou, Long Tail, Swamp Lion, King Cat, Mountain Devil, Red Tiger,
and Silver Lion.  Puma is the Spanish word for cougar, but Puma is commonly used in many areas of the Southwest United States.  Remember that Puma concolor is the scientific name, based on Latin.  So Puma is also the Latin word for cougar.  In some specific places, like Florida, the local subspecies of cougar is called the Florida Panther.  It is actually an endangered species.  Only 50 or so are left in the wild.

I drew the coloring page drawing of a cougar that was mounted (taxidermy) at t South Dakota Museum.  We went there last month.