Mountain lions are carnivorous. They prey on most other animals in their habitat, including pronghorn, hares, badgers, porcupines, skunks, coyotes, deer, bighorn sheep, fish, and rodents. Male territories range from 15 to 30 square miles, and females range from 5 to 20 square miles, depending on the number of young they are providing for. They may hunt in a radius of 30 to 50 miles. A mountain lion's territory sometimes is not one large area but rather several separate ones connected by pathways.
Mountain lions mark their territory and pathways with visible spots of feces and urine.
Territorial pathways may overlap, but if the animals meet, one will always defer to the other rather than risk injury by fighting. With few exceptions, mountain lions are solitary hunters and spend most of their lives alone. They have specialized teeth for killing and eating prey and, like many members of the cat family, enlarged and rough taste buds on their tongues to aid in scraping meat from bones. They hunt by stalking, getting to within a few yards of their prey before lunging in for the kill. They have great speed for short distances and can leap 20 to 23 feet from a standstill.