Rare fatal mountain lion attack El Dorado County 23rd March 2024

Fierce cougar

Fatal mountain lion (puma) attacks on people – often hikers in the beautiful American countryside – are very rare. But sometimes the cat is totally committed to the attack and cannot be scared off using the usual well-known techniques. This story is one such case. The sad story of a recent fatal mountain lion …

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Mountain lions fear humans which limits their use of space particularly for males

The mountain lion is scared of people and it affects their lives negatively

A report on a study on the Science Daily website tells us something that perhaps we should know and probably do know namely that mountain lions fear humans. They are not the only wild animal fearing humans. All the wild animals on the African continent which are not socialised to humans fear them. It’s …

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Can you own a large wild cat in South Carolina?

pet pumas

No, you cannot own a large wild cat in South Carolina. What do they mean by a ‘large wild cat’? They mean these cat species: lions, tigers, leopards, jaguars, cougars, cheetahs, snow leopards, and clouded leopards. The N. Carolina law (see the Federal Big Cat Public Safety Act further down which overlaps with this …

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Mountain lion versus wolf: who’d win?

A young male mountain lion (follow the red arrow) in northwest Wyoming just pushed off his kill by the wolf in the foreground

The question is perhaps a little fanciful because in reality the wolf is dominant over the mountain lion as they are a pack animal. It seems that the wolf drives away the puma as they are outnumbered by a pack of wolves. They scare pumas. Wolves are dominant to pumas in most encounters as …

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Pumas live alone with important exceptions

Two unrelated female pumas share the carcass of a prey animal killed by one of them

A 2002 book on the wild cats tells me that “like most felids, pumas live alone, and apart from associations for mating purposes the only prolonged contact is between females and their kittens” (Wild Cats of the World page 260). That opening sentence on the social organisation of the puma a.k.a. mountain lion appears, …

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Puma hunting, feeding and social organisation – comprehensive coverage

Picture of a puma on an iceberg off the Upsala glacier in Patagonia's Los Glaciares National Park, Argentina

This page discusses puma hunting feeding and social organisation. Cats generally are opportunistic predators. This means a wide range of prey depending on season and place. Pumas will treat any animal that is vulnerable as prey. Pumas are also flexible in the selection of prey. For example, in Nevada some pumas attacked wild horses. …

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Mountain lion sounds – a full complement

Mountain lion travelling

Mountain lion sounds can be similar to those of our domestic cat but judging by the audio files below you might not believe it. Although the mountain lion (also called puma and cougar to name two alternatives) is a fairly large cat it has physical characteristics that are similar to small cats, which affect …

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