The head is broad and the forehead is high and arched. The cougar once ranged from coast to coast in North America, now they are mainly found in restricted areas of mountainous, unpopulated areas. They prefer coniferous forests, tropical forests, grassland, dry brush country, swamps, or any areas with adequate cover and prey. They use dense vegetation, caves, and rocky crevices as temporary shelters. Home ranges of the cougar can be as large as 100 square miles, depending on the terrain and food supply.
Males usually have home ranges that overlap with several female s home ranges.
The cougar is a carnivore, feeding mainly on moose, wapiti, white-tailed deer, and caribou. They also eat smaller creatures such as voles, squirrels, mice, muskrat, beaver, raccoon, coyote, birds, fish and occasionally domesticated animals. The preferred method of hunting for the cougar is the stalk and ambush technique. A cougar will lay in wait and when a suitable animal comes by it will then jump on it s back and with its powerful jaw and teeth it will break the neck of its prey. Cougars are solitary, nocturnal animals, coming together only to mate or when females have young.