Although most lions can range from seven to nine feet long, three feet of that is tail. The lion's snarl, and especially its formidable claws, are highlighted in an ancient Anasazi petroglyph found in Arizona. Native peoples so respected the cat's hunting prowess that many tribes used cougar skins as quivers for their arrows because they believed a mountain lion hide would ensure successful hunting. Some describe the scream as sounding as if a woman is being murdered. Biologists who have studied mountain lions have concluded that screaming is not related to hunting tactics, as previously thought, but solely associated with female mountain lions in estrus who are signaling their sexual receptivity.
Nothing is too big or too small to eat.
Their favorite and most regular prey are deer and elk, but as opportunistic hunters they will also kill hares, rabbits, ground squirrels, raccoons, marmots, beaver, mice, and large birds like duck or grouse. If times are hard, lions will eat bobcats, coyotes, foxes, fish, insects, or berries-even skunk. And the panther is one of the few animals that can successfully prey on porcupines. A healthy mountain lion is equally capable of killing an 800 pound elk, a high-speed pronghorn, bighorn sheep, or a powerful moose. The lion was fastened onto the bison and tearing into it.