What's the Difference Between Cougars, Pumas, and Mountain Lions?

of those across the Americas. Cougars have a fast and powerful muscular body, a sharp eyesight and keen hearing, as well as the ability to swim, climb trees, and jump long distances. This adaptability means cougars can be found thriving in many varied habitats, from these southern Andes and South America to the Yukon in Canada, and everywhere from forests to deserts. The different names evolved from local peoples around the Inca Empire on the western coast of what's now

South America. The animal was called a puma. The Guarinee peoples from further east had a word that I'm not sure of the pronunciation of that eventually became cougar when Europeans arrived. A panther roots from an ancient Greek term for mid sized cats and mountain lion was probably coined by Spanish colonizers, who labeled the animal both lyons meaning lion and ghetto monte, meaning cat of the mountain. No matter what you call the cougar, however, it is still

the same cat, a species name puma con color. It's the largest of these small cat species. There are some slight differences in populations of cougars from different areas because of their local climate, diet, and physical environment. For the article this episode is based on How Stuff Works, spoke with Charlie Jasper, who at the time was a property security consultant around Los Angeles. He explained there are no

significant differences other than vernacular taxonomy. If you will, Panthers in Florida and the southeastern United States, like most creatures there, tend to be a little smaller. If you compare a Carolinian white tailed deer with its equivalent up in Maine,

it's like looking at a labordoodle versus a wolf. In general, most Cougars have slender bodies with somewhat round heads and erect ears, and display a solid tawny colored coat, which is how they got the name con color, with whitish fur along their belly and slightly darker hair along their back and around their ears, muzzle, paws, and at the

tip of their tail. In humid ecosystems, the animals tend to be darker and reddish brown, while those living in colder regions have a silvery gray coat that's thicker and longer. Cougars are powerfully built, with large paws, retractable claws, and sharp carnivore teeth. The hind legs are more muscular than the fore legs, which enables them to jump over fifteen feet or about five meters up or down trees or mountains. Cougars have a flexible spine, much like that of a cheetah,

which allows them to maneuver and change directions abruptly. Adults can grow up to about five to nine feet long, including some two to three feet of tail. That's about one and a half to three meters total. With up to a meter of tail, they might weigh anywhere from sixty five to two hundred and twenty pounds that's thirty to one hundred kilos, with male cougars being larger and

heavier than female cougars. That is a lot of cat and they are apex predators, so they should be considered dangerous, though attacks on humans are extremely rare with many predators. A cougar may attack if cornered, if a fleeing human stimulates a cougar's instinct to chase, or if a person

plays dead and seems like an easy target. In the case of an attack, you're looking to make yourself seem larger and more menacing with intense eye contact, a slow waving of raised arms, loud but calm shouting, and even throwing stones or sticks in the animal's direction to encourage it to retreat. You can back away slowly, but don't turn your back. If you live in an area with cougars, keep a close watch on pets and be sure to

teach children to respect and avoid wild animals. The cougar is a carnivore, which means it requires meat in its diet and it will eat any animal it can catch,

from insects to large hoofed animals. Its primary prey are various deer species, including mule deer, white tailed deer, elk, and even moose, while other food bases can include larger wild or domestic animals like goats, sheep, horses, cattle, lama, and alpaca, of various rodents like porcupines, rabbits and capabera, weasels, birds, and even semi aquatic life like sea lions and seals. And Jasper said they'll go after other predators too to

reduce competition and feed themselves to boot. When cougars attack, they usually employ a characteristic neck bite. In larger prey, they attempt to position their teeth between the vertebra and into the spinal cord, resulting in a fatal injury. They're capable of breaking the neck of some of their smaller prey with a strong bite. Kills are generally estimated at around one large mammal every two weeks, while female cougars

raising their young may kill every three days. The cat commonly drags a kill to a preferred spot, covers it with brush, and returns to feed over several days. The cougar wich generally is a non scavenger, meaning it rarely consumes prey that it hasn't killed. Of the twenty subspecies of cougar, three are considered endangered, the Florida panther, the

Eastern puma, and the Costa Rican puma. Cougar populations have historically been hunted out of fear of the animals killing rancher's livestock, but with human populations continuing to expand into the animal's habitat, it's likely that there will be increased human animal conflict that may necessitate continued protection. Today's episode is based on the article What's the Difference between a

Mountain Lion and a Cougar? On how Stuffworks dot Com written by Wendy Bowman and brain Stuff is production of by Heart Radio in partnership with how Stuffworks dot Com and is produced by Tyler Klang. Four more podcasts from my heart Radio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.