Cougars

Each cougar needs about 100 square miles (259 square kilometers) of territory to find enough food and shelter!

Cougars are such good hunters that they succeed in catching their prey about 50% of the time!

Cougars can survive without drinking water for weeks by getting moisture from their prey!

Cougars create special paths through their territory that they use over and over again, like having their own private highways!

A cougar’s territory often includes several different types of terrain, from forests to rocky cliffs!

Cougars can climb trees that are over 60 feet (18 meters) tall — as high as a 6-story building!

Cougars avoid fighting with other predators whenever possible, preferring to retreat to safety!

Even in hot deserts, cougars can find cool places to rest during the day in caves or shady canyons!

Cougars can live in forests, grasslands, deserts, and even swamps — they’re habitat generalists!

Cougars are so adaptable, they can be found from the snowy mountains of Canada to the tropical rainforests of South America!

Life Cycle

Baby cougars are born blind and weigh only about 1 pound (0.5 kg) — about the same as a can of soup!

Cougar kittens are born with spotted coats that fade as they grow older, helping them stay camouflaged!

A mother cougar typically has between 1–6 kittens in a litter, with 2-3 being most common!

Cougar kittens open their eyes when they’re about 8–9 days old!

Cougars cubs start learning to hunt when they’re about 6 weeks old!

Female cougars raise their cubs completely on their own, without any help from male cougars!

Cougar cubs start eating solid food when they’re about 6–7 weeks old!

By the time they’re 6 months old, cougar cubs have learned to stalk and pounce, even though they’re not yet ready to hunt alone!

Baby cougars start walking when they’re just 2–3 weeks old!

Cougar kittens make a special chirping sound to call their mother!

Young cougars practice their hunting skills by stalking and pouncing on leaves blown by the wind!

Mother cougars teach their cubs to hunt by bringing back live prey for them to practice on!

Cougar kittens stay in their den for the first 8 weeks of their life!

Female cougars can have their first litter when they are about 2.5 years old!

Cougar kittens nurse from their mother for about the first 3 months of their life!

Young male cougars must leave their mother’s territory and find their own when they’re about 2 years old!

Young female cougars sometimes stay near their mother and establish territories that overlap with hers!

The spots on cougar kittens’ fur help hide them from predators while their mother is away hunting!

Diet & Feeding

Cougars are carnivores and can eat up to 20–30 pounds (9-14 kg) of meat in one meal!

A single cougar may need to catch and eat about 50 deer per year to survive!

Cougars use their powerful jaws to break the neck of their prey, making their hunting quick and efficient!

Cougars mainly eat the meat of their prey, but may chew on bones to access nutrient-rich marrow.

Cougars can go up to two weeks without eating if they’ve had a large meal!

Unlike many big cats, cougars don’t play with their food — they’re very efficient hunters!

A cougar might travel up to 100 miles (161 kilometers) looking for food if hunting is difficult!

Cougars can eat porcupines by carefully flipping them over to reach their unprotected belly!

Cougars can catch fish with their paws, though they rarely choose to do so!

Cougars have special molars (carnassials) that work like scissors to cut through tough meat!

Cougars mostly hunt deer, but they also catch smaller animals like rabbits, raccoons, beavers, and even porcupines when they get the chance.

Cougars can kill prey that’s much larger than themselves, including elk that weigh over 700 pounds (318 kg)!

Cougars stalk their prey carefully, sometimes following it for hours before making their final attack!

A cougar typically eats about 10 pounds (4.5 kg) of meat per day on average!

Cougars will return to their kill site for several days until they’ve eaten all the meat!

Conservation & Population

There are estimated to be between 30,000-50,000 adult cougars living in the wild today!

Cougars once lived all across North America, but now they’re mostly found in the western United States and Canada!

The Florida panther, a subspecies of cougar, was reduced to just 20 animals in the wild in the 1970s but now has over 100 thanks to conservation efforts!

The biggest threat to cougars is habitat loss as human cities and towns expand into their territory!

Cougars are considered a “keystone species,” which means they help keep their entire ecosystem healthy!

Some states have special wildlife crossings built over highways to help cougars safely cross roads!

Scientists use special cameras that take pictures when animals walk by to study and count wild cougars!