Cougar

The Cougar (Puma concolor), forby kent as the puma, muntain lion, panther, or catamount, is a muckle cat o the faimily Felidae native tae the Americas. Its range, frae the Canadian Yukon tae the soothren Andes o Sooth Americae, is the greatest o ony muckle wild terrestrial mammal in the Wastren Hemisphere.^[4] An adaptable, generalist species, the cougar is foond in maist American habitat kynds. It is the seicont hiviest cat in the Wastren Hemisphere, efter the jaguar. Solitar bi naitur an nocturnal,^[5] the cougar is maist closely relatit tae smawer felines an is nearer genetically tae the domestic cat than true lions.

Cougar[1] Temporal range: 0.3–0 Ma PreЄ Є O S D C P T J K Pg N ↓ Middle Pleistocene–Holocene
A North American cougar in Glacier Naitional Pairk
Conservation status
Least Concern  (IUCN 3.1)[2]
Scientific classification
Kinrick:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Cless:	Mammalia
Order:	Carnivora
Faimily:	Felidae
Genus:	Puma
Species:	P. concolor
Binomial name
Puma concolor (Linnaeus, 1771)[3]
Subspeshies
P. c. concolor P. c. couguar
Cougar range

A stalk-an-ambush predator, the cougar pursues a wide variety o prey. Primary fuid soorces include ungulates sic as deer, elk, moose, an bighorn sheep, as weel as domestic cattle, horse an sheep, particularly in the northren pairt o its range. It will hunt species as sma as insects an rodents an aa. This cat prefers habitats wi dense unnerbrush an rocky areas fur stalkin, but can bide in apen areas an aa. The cougar is territorial an survives at law population densities. Individual territory sizes depend on terrain, vegetation, an abundance o prey. Whiles muckle, it isnae always the apex predator in its range, yieldin tae the jaguar, grey wouf, American black beir, an grizzly beir. It is reclusive an uisually avoids fowk. Fatal attacks on humans are rare, but hae been trendin upward in recent yeirs as mair fowk enter thair territory.^[6]

Excessive huntin follaein European colonisation o the Americas an the ongangin human development o cougar habitat haes caused populations tae drap in maist pairts o its historical range. In particular, the cougar wis extirpatit in eastren North Americae in the beginnin o the 20t yeirhunner, except fur an isolatit subpopulation in Florida. But, in recent decades, breedin populations hae muived east intae the far wastren pairts o the Dakotas, Nebraska, an Oklahoma. Transient males hae been verified in Minnesota,^[7] Wisconsin,^[8] Iowa,^[9][10] the Upper Peninsula o Michigan, an Illinois, whaur a cougar wis shot in the city limits o Chicago^[11][12][13] an, in at least ane instance, observit as far east as Connecticut.^[14][15]