Currently, the only grizzly bears in the U.S. are found in Wyoming, Idaho, Montana, and Alaska. There numbers are low, but there is some effort on the part of environmentalists and scientists to reintroduce this huge carnivore to portions of its former range. It is highly doubtful, however, that the grizzly bear will ever grace the plains of Kansas again. The cougar was formerly found in Kansas. This was the largest cat found in Kansas.
Cougars have large home ranges, where they prey upon rather large animals.
In Kansas, the bulk of the diet consisted of deer, turkey, and smaller mammals. The female cougar gives birth to 2 or 3 kittens, who stay with her for the next year. Cougars have the distinction of having the largest range of any native mammal in the New World, with a range from northern Canada to southern Argentina. These cats are also called panthers, mountain lions, painter cats, lions, and American lions. As was typical of early European settlement, large predatory animals, including cougars, were quickly exterminated.