Mountain Lion

Mountain Lions, also known as cougars, pumas, or panthers, are North America's largest wild cat, weighing up to 200 pounds. The male is about one third larger than the female. Their average length of head and body is 3-5 feet, and their tail is 2-2.7 feet long. Their tail, measuring nearly one-third of their total length, gives them excellent balance. When stalking and attacking prey, mountain lions utilize extraordinary leaping abilities. They are capable of running jumps exceeding 40 feet and standing vertical leaps of up to 15 feet. Mountain lions are typically an ambush predator, stalking their prey before finding the opportunity to leap on its back and deliver a suffocating neck bite. After a successful kill of a large animal, a mountain lion will typically drag the carcass to a spot where it can be covered with brush. It will then return to feed over a period of days. Mountain lions will leave a carcass after it begins to spoil. This means that during hot weather, they may have to kill 2 or more Deer per week due to spoiling of the meat.
Mountain Lions are solitary animals except during mating. They are mostly nocturnal, relying on their acute senses of vision, smell, and hearing to guide them through the darkness. An individual lion’s home range may cover from 5 to over 100 square miles. While the territories of the female and male may overlap, the territory of same sex mountain lions will not. Both sexes mark their territories with scrapes and their scent to warn other lions of their borders. Females also use scrapes and scent to advertise that they are in estrus.
There is no specific mating season for mountain lions, although most of the time it is between December and March. During mating, the male and female will stay together for 3-10 days until they depart from each other. Mountain lions are polygamous animals, meaning they mate with several others. A female is pregnant for approximately 90 days until she gives birth to either 1 to 4 cubs. Lion cubs, or kittens, have distinct black spots coving their otherwise tawny fur. The mother cares for her cubs for one to two years, until they venture out on their own. Mountain lions live an average of 12 years in the wild.
mountain-lion-growl-e1470088373704.jpg|A Mountain Lion Growling
0308-2017-mountainlion.jpg|Mountain Lion Prowling the Forest at Night
M-III-6a.jpg|A Mountain Lion with a Deer Kill
27867-mountain-lion-cubs-1920x1200-animal-wallpaper.jpg|Mountain Lion With Cubs
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