Have you ever seen a mountain lion? Puma concolor has many names: puma, cougar, panther, painter, catamount and mountain lion. In Mexico it is known as "lepardo." By whatever name it is called, it is a handsome and extremely interesting member of our fauna.
Mountain lions originally ranged from Canada to the southern tip of the mainland of South America, and from the Atlantic to the Pacific. They are found in many diverse habitats, from sea level to elevations over 13,000 feet: in swamps, deserts, forests, mountains, plains. Their range in the United States at the present time includes southern Florida and wilderness areas west of the 100th meridian – that is more or less a straight line from central North Dakota to Del Rio, Texas.
In Texas they’re found in the mountains of the Trans-Pecos and in the counties which border Mexico. There have been consistent reports recently in parts of the Great Plains and even into the Western Appalachians.
Much has been written about the voice of the mountain lion. Certainly it makes sounds much like a house cat, differing only in proportion to its size: growls, mews, hissings and caterwaulings. Adult mountain lions purr like a contented housecat. But it is the scream of the panther which has caused so much controversy. Many hunters claim that they have never heard one scream. There’s no doubt that many of the shrill agonizing screams attributed to the cougar were in reality made by young Great Horned Owls. However, William Beebe once stood at midnight in front of a caged mountain lion in the Bronx Zoo. He wrote, "It gave utterance to a loud, long drawn out quavering cry which seemed as if it would never stop: an ominous, menacing, portentous, terrifying and appalling yowl."
At least 80 percent of the total food of mountain lions is deer. Other animals eaten include porcupines, cottontails, jack rabbits, cows, horses, sheep, goats, skunks, foxes, coyotes and prairie dogs. Their preference for deer once led to the extermination of mountain lions, with disastrous results.
The classic example is the destruction of the deer range on the Kaibab plateau in Arizona. Over six thousand large predators — wolves, mountain lions, coyotes and bobcats - were eliminated. In 20 years deer increased from four thousand to 100 thousand. They completely destroyed the plants that they eat, and thousands died of starvation. Mountain lions not only control over-population; they serve a valuable purpose in weeding out sick and deformed animals, keeping the deer herd healthy.
The puma is a great traveler, and usually has a definite circular trail which it follows while searching for game. It may take 18 days to make the complete circuit of its territory. If food becomes scarce on the regular travel-way, it may set up a new trail many miles away. Hunters trailing a mountain lion have found that one may travel 25 miles in a single night when moving to a new territory.
Mountain lions breed once every two or three years and have from one to six kittens. The young are densely spotted and the tail is ringed. These markings fade by the time the cubs are a year old. Young pumas are able to kill their own food at the age of six months. At this time they take rabbits, ground squirrels and young fawns. When captured young, lion cubs may make suitable pets. They show much fondness for the owner, and are as playful as house cats. A few, when grown, turn against their owners, but more frequently, it’s their hunting instincts for sheep and horses and dogs that require the owner to place them in a zoo. Best to leave them wild!
Nature Notes is sponsored by the Dixon Water Foundation and is produced by KRTS Marfa Public Radio in cooperation with the Sibley Nature Center in Midland, Texas. This episode was written by Naturalist Frances Williams in 1961 and updated in 2012 by Burr Williams, of the Sibley Nature Center.