Pumas (Puma concolor), also calledcougars,mountain lions,catamounts, orbrown panthers, are largewild cats. They live in the western half ofNorth America,Florida, and most ofCentral andSouth America.
Pumas are mainly tan in color. They can be up to 9 feet long, althoughaverage length is 6 – 8 feet. They can weigh from 29kilograms to 90 kilograms. (Themales are larger.)
Unlike the big cats in thegenusPanthera, the puma cannot roar. Instead, it can growl, hiss, screech, and purr. Most of the big cats can only purr while breathing out.
Female cougars take care of their babies until they are old enough to take care for themselves. Baby cougars are called cubs or kittens.
Pumas hunt at night. They have good hearing and night vision, better than humans do. They stalk their prey, which means they walk slowly and quietly, they hide, and then when close, they jump or run fast to catch their prey by surprise. They live and hunt alone.[4]
Pumas live in themountains andforests. They prefer to stay far from people, but encounters with humans happen sometimes. In the last 30 years, 26 people have been killed by cougars in North America.[source?] However, many more cougars have been killed by humans. Cougars used to be found all across eastern North America, but they were hunted toextinction there by the beginning of the 1900s.[source?]
