The Florida cougar, whose photo in front of you is a beautiful big cat, is also called a mountain lion, a red tiger, a panther or a cougar. These beautiful animals take pride of place in tribal mythology, they are secretive and very smart. "Puma" in translation means "strong and powerful."
Once the cougar was called the "royal cat", such a name completely suits him. Only very difficult these beautiful animals live in our days. Now the Florida puma is on the verge of extinction, the Red Book has already "settled" this beast on its pages. In ancient times, a
wild cat lived everywhere - from New England to the Rockies, and I would like to restore the population of Florida cougar even now.
Florida Cougar: Description
The cougar is like a panther, only more graceful. She has a strong, flexible, elongated body up to two meters long with a tail. The head is small, with small round ears, the fangs are large, like all predators, about four centimeters long. The paws are wide, short and strong, with sharp retractable claws that she can hide. The tail is powerful and muscular, about 30 cm long, with a small tassel at the end. An adult male weighs about 50-60 kg, a female about 30-40 kg, there are some individuals reaching 100-105 kg.
The main coat color is yellowish gray or yellowish brown. Belly and chin are white, tail is black. The ears are dark, there are black marks on the sides of the muzzle. The color of the cougar also depends on the terrain of the beast. The northern representatives of this species are gray, the cougars from tropical areas are red.
Wildlife Lifestyle
Florida cougar lives both on the plains and in the mountains up to five thousand meters above sea level. In the second year of life, a wild cat becomes an adult and leaves the possession of the mother. A young cougar goes in search of his territory, it happens that a new house has to fight to death in order to regain its place in the wild. An adult mountain cat can own up to 1300 square kilometers.
Cougar leads a solitary lifestyle, only in the mating season, cats meet to continue the genus. Puma is not a fan of long-distance running, as it is quickly exhausted. The mountain lion hunts after dark, prefers to sleep in the den during the day and bask in the sun.
What does the cougar eat?
The Florida cougar preys mainly on moose, deer and mountain sheep. As a treat, a wild cat consumes mice, squirrels, rabbits. Crocodiles, porcupines, muskrats, beavers, raccoons, armadillos can become prey for cougars. If there is not enough food, the cougar pays visits to farmers, attacking livestock and poultry.
If a large animal such as an elk or a deer becomes a victim of a mountain lion, then a predator can eat this prey for a whole week. For this cougar, it thoroughly disguises the carcass of a dead animal so that other predators cannot find it.
Breeding
Florida cougar It is a cat, albeit wild, so that the estrus in females can begin at any time of the year. The initiative during the breeding season comes from the male. Smelling the smell of a female ready for mating, he invades her possessions. If the “girl” likes the “boy”, she will not drive him away, and a couple of cats will live and hunt together for seven days. During the "honey" week, cougars can mate 60-70 times a day. At the end of the mating season, the male leaves home, and the female remains to wait for the cubs, then to grow them independently. In the world of cougars, family life and the upbringing of babies "men" does not apply.
Mating games are arranged by those animals that have their own territory, the breeding season lasts from December to March. The female carries kittens for about ninety-five days, at a time from two to six blind babies weighing about 400-500 grams are born. Ten days later, small cougars begin to see, their teeth erupt and their ears open, they very quickly gain experience with their mother. At the age of 25-30 days, kittens leave the den under the supervision of an alert parent, and the cougar mother feeds the cubs with milk for up to three months. Mountain cat's milk is six times the fat content of cow, so the kids gain weight very quickly. Young people live with their mother about 20-26 months, then leave to arrange their lives in a new place.
On the verge of extinction
Unfortunately, very few mountain lions remain in our time, the Florida cougar even got the name "ghost of the wild west" because it is almost impossible to see it in the natural environment. Cougar is a rare subspecies of cougars, it is on the verge of extinction, although once these graceful animals inhabited the vast expanses of North America. Now wild cats in very limited numbers live in the forests and marshes of Florida.
The reason for this decline in the population of Florida cougars was the drainage of swamps, where cougars mostly prefer to live. To this reason environmental pollution was added , and, of course, a man had a hand in it, since this beautiful animal is considered an object of sport hunting.
The Florida cougar is the only subspecies cougar to which the status in the Red Book is assigned - “in critical condition”! People come to their senses and protect these beautiful animals, cougars are included in the CITES application, which controls the trade in rare species of animals.
Florida Cougar: Interesting Facts
The animal world is very mysterious, a lot of interesting things can be learned about each of the animals. Puma is no exception, before you some interesting facts about this beautiful wild cat.
- The Florida cougar is a very patient animal. When a cougar falls into a trap, it does not rush about like a tiger, but calmly tries to find a way out to free itself. Not finding a way out, the cat falls into a peculiar stupor and can sit without movements for several days.
- At short distances, the cougar can reach speeds of up to fifty kilometers per hour.
- A mountain lion can bounce to a height of more than six meters.
- A Florida cougar can kill prey that weighs three times the weight of a predatory cat.
- Cougar has very good eyesight.
- Cougars shrill during mating season.
- The cougar always hunts by herself; she never eats prey that was killed by another beast.