Cougar

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Cougar[1]
Temporal range: 0.3–0 Ma
Middle PleistoceneHolocene
A North American cougar in Glacier Naitional Pairk
Scientific classification edit
Kinrick: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Cless: Mammalia
Order: Carnivora
Faimily: Felidae
Genus: Puma
Species: P. concolor
Binomial name
Puma concolor
(Linnaeus, 1771)[3]
Subspeshies
Cougar range

The cougar (Puma concolor), kent as the puma, moontain lion, panther, or catamount an aa, is a lairge 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 lairge wild terrestrial mammal in the Wastren Hemisphere.[4] An adaptable, generalist species, the cougar is foond in maist American habitat types. 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.

An excellent stalk-an-ambush predator, the cougar pursues a wide variety o prey. Primary fuid soorces include ungulates such as deer, elk, moose, an bighorn sheep, as well as domestic cattle, horse an sheep, particularly in the northren pairt o its range. It will an aa hunt species as smaa as insects an rodents. This cat prefers habitats wi dense unnerbrush an rocky auries for stalkin, but can an aa live in open auries. The cougar is territorial an survives at law population densities. Individual territory sizes depend on terrain, vegetation, an abundance o prey. While lairge, it is nae 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 years as mair fowk enter thair territory.[6]

Excessive huntin follaein European colonization o the Americas an the ongangin human development o cougar habitat haes caused populations tae drop in maist pairts o its historical range. In particular, the cougar wis extirpatit in eastren North Americae in the beginnin o the 20t century, except for an isolatit subpopulation in Florida. However, in recent decades, breedin populations hae moved 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 ceety leemits o Chicago[11][12][13] an, in at least ane instance, observed as far east as Connecticut.[14][15]

References[eedit | eedit soorce]

  1. Wozencraft, W. C. (2005). "Order Carnivora". In Wilson, D. E.; Reeder, D. M (eds.). Mammal Species of the World (3rd ed.). Johns Hopkins University Press. pp. 544–45. ISBN 978-0-8018-8221-0. OCLC 62265494.
  2. Nielsen, C.; Thompson, D.; Kelly, M.; Lopez-Gonzalez, C. A. (2015). "Puma concolor". The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. IUCN. 2015 (errata version published in 2016): e.T18868A97216466. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2015-4.RLTS.T18868A50663436.en. Retrieved 26 Mairch 2019.{{cite iucn}}: error: |doi= / |url= mismatch (help)
  3. Kitchener, A. C.; Breitenmoser-Würsten, C.; Eizirik, E.; Gentry, A.; Werdelin, L.; Wilting, A.; Yamaguchi, N.; Abramov, A. V.; Christiansen, P.; Driscoll, C.; Duckworth, J. W.; Johnson, W.; Luo, S.-J.; Meijaard, E.; O'Donoghue, P.; Sanderson, J.; Seymour, K.; Bruford, M.; Groves, C.; Hoffmann, M.; Nowell, K.; Timmons, Z.; Tobe, S. (2017). "A revised taxonomy of the Felidae: The final report of the Cat Classification Task Force of the IUCN Cat Specialist Group" (PDF). Cat News (Special Issue 11): 33−34.
  4. Iriarte, J. Agustin; Franklin, William L.; Johnson, Warren E. and Redford, Kent H. (1990). "Biogeographic variation of food habits and body size of the America puma". Oecologia. 85 (2): 185. doi:10.1007/BF00319400.CS1 maint: multiple names: authors leet (link)
  5. Cougars. US National Park Service.
  6. McKee, Denise (2003). "Cougar Attacks on Humans: A Case Report". Wilderness and Environmental Medicine. Wilderness Medical Society. 14 (3): 169–73. doi:10.1580/1080-6032(2003)14[169:CAOHAC]2.0.CO;2. PMID 14518628.
  7. Shot fells elusive cougar chased out of a culvert. StarTribune.com (December 1, 2011). Retrieved on April 29, 2013.
  8. "Extinct? Cougar sightings on the rise in eastern United States". Daily Mail. London. 22 Januar 2012.
  9. Mountain Lion Shot Early Friday Morning in Monona County. Iowa Department of Natural Resources, iowadnr.gov (December 23, 2011)
  10. Mountain lion shot by police in Monona County - KWWL.com - News & Weather for Waterloo, Dubuque, Cedar Rapids & Iowa City, Iowa | Archived 2017-06-25 at the Wayback Machine. KWWL.com. Retrieved on April 29, 2013.
  11. "The Cougar Network – Using Science to Understand Cougar Ecology". Cougarnet.org. Archived frae the original on 18 October 2014. Retrieved 16 Februar 2011.
  12. "Trail cam photo of cougar in the eastern Upper Peninsula". Twitpic.com. 5 November 2009. Retrieved 16 Februar 2011.
  13. "Indiana confirms mountain lion in Green County". Poorboysoutdoors.com. 10 Mey 2010. Archived frae the original on 11 Julie 2010. Retrieved 16 Februar 2011.CS1 maint: BOT: original-url status unknown (link)
  14. "Mountain lion killed in Conn. had walked from S. Dakota". USA Today. 26 Julie 2011. Retrieved 27 October 2012.
  15. "Connecticut Mountain Lion Likely Came From The Black Hills". NPR News. Retrieved 28 Julie 2011.

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