The cougar, or mountain lion, is the largest of the purring cats. Once common throughout North America, its habitat has been reduced to a restricted range west of the rocky mountains with a small remnant population in Florida. The mountain lion ranges in size from six to nine feet from nose to tail with weights between 75 and 110 pounds for females and between 100 and 200 pounds for males. The mountain lion stalks its prey in its favored habitat of rugged terrain with thick cover of forest or brush. Adult mountain lions live within territories of between 25 and 300 square miles which they mark with scrapes of earth, leaves and urine.
Males are solitary, while females are often accompanied by their kittens.
She is named after a Native American tribe. The caracal, or desert lynx, is a creature of the wide-open African savanna which also frequents scattered woodlands. They weigh between 20 and 40 pounds and are between 24 and 30 inches long, excluding the tail. They range across the African savanna belt and as far as the Middle East and sand dune regions of southern Iran. In India, where caracals once sat at the feet of princes, only scant numbers remain.