Cougar

Its range, frae the Canadian Yukon tae the soothren Andes o Sooth Americae, is the greatest o ony lairge wild terrestrial mammal in the Wastren Hemisphere. An adaptable, generalist species, the cougar is foond in maist American habitat types. It is the seicont hiviest cat in the Wastren Hemisphere, efter the jaguar. Solitar bi naitur an nocturnal, the cougar is maist closely relatit tae smawer felines an is nearer genetically tae the domestic cat than true lions.

Cougar Temporal range: 0.3–0 Ma PreЄ Є O S D C P T J K Pg N ↓ Middle Pleistocene–Holocene
A North American cougar in Glacier Naitional Pairk
Conservation status
Least Concern  (IUCN 3.1)
Scientific classification
Kinrick:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Cless:	Mammalia
Order:	Carnivora
Faimily:	Felidae
Genus:	Puma
Species:	P. concolor
Binomial name
Puma concolor (Linnaeus, 1771)
Subspeshies
P. c. concolor P. c. couguar
Cougar range

An excellent stalk-an-ambush predator, the cougar pursues a wide variety o prey. Primary fuid soorces include ungulates such as deer, elk, moose, an bighorn sheep, as well as domestic cattle, horse an sheep, particularly in the northren pairt o its range. It will an aa hunt species as smaa as insects an rodents. This cat prefers habitats wi dense unnerbrush an rocky auries for stalkin, but can an aa live in open auries. The cougar is territorial an survives at law population densities. Individual territory sizes depend on terrain, vegetation, an abundance o prey. While lairge, it is nae always the apex predator in its range, yieldin tae the jaguar, grey wouf, American black beir, an grizzly beir. It is reclusive an uisually avoids fowk. Fatal attacks on humans are rare, but hae been trendin upward in recent years as mair fowk enter thair territory.

Excessive huntin follaein European colonization o the Americas an the ongangin human development o cougar habitat haes caused populations tae drop in maist pairts o its historical range. In particular, the cougar wis extirpatit in eastren North Americae in the beginnin o the 20t century, except for an isolatit subpopulation in Florida. However, in recent decades, breedin populations hae moved east intae the far wastren pairts o the Dakotas, Nebraska, an Oklahoma. Transient males hae been verified in Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, the Upper Peninsula o Michigan, an Illinois, whaur a cougar wis shot in the ceety leemits o Chicago an, in at least ane instance, observed as far east as Connecticut.