Geography 316:  Biogeography ( In progress 1/5/01 )
(student project)
The Biogeography of The Cougar (Felis concolor )
  by Jeff Davis, student in Geography 316
 
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Carnivora
Family: Felidae
Genus: Felis
Species: Felis concolor
 

Description of Species:
    The colors of the different subspecies of cougar vary.  This is no accident, the color tones change according to the prevailing tones of the underbrush and habitat within that particular subspecies range.  A predator needs every advantage to be able to successfully pull down a meal.  Camouflage also provides the cougar with another crucial split second advantage.  If the prey detects the predator a second later than it would have if the cougar was a different color, the predator has an opportunity to sneak that much closer before it's prey starts to run.  Colors of the puma varies considerably from reddish-brown, gray, or tan, as the local California subspecies appears.  Typically the ears and the tip of the tail are darker, and the belly and rump are lighter than the rest of the coat of fur.
     The most striking variety of puma coloring is the Florida panther.  In the deep dark swampy forests of the Florida Everglades, there is very little light.  At night, when the panther does most of its hunting, there is virtually no light from the moon that makes it to the forest floor.  That is how the panther came to be jet black.  The tan California subspecies would never be able to hunt successfully in the dark Florida forest due to its light colored fur.  It would be spotted much sooner.  The panther has evolved over time to give itself this advantage, and also a beautiful coat of fur that almost drove it into extinction by the desires of man.
 

 Habitat:
     The cougar or puma, as it is also commonly called was the most widely distributed mammal (except man) in the Americas (Western Hemisphere).  It's original habitat stretched across the entire United States and southern Canada, all the way down to the tip of South America.  Of course over this much territory, all the cats are not exactly alike.  In fact, the are 27 different subspecies of cougars, including the famous black Florida Panther (Felis concolor coryi).
     Not surprisingly, there is already at least one subspecies of cougar that went extinct more than 100 years ago.  The Eastern Cougar (Felis pensylvanica) occupied what is now Pennsylvania and parts of Ohio and New Jersey was wiped out during early expansion and development.
 

Natural History:
     Cougars come from a very long line of evolution.  Their ancestry can be traced 40 to 60 million years ago through the late Tertiary period to the Miacids (ancient carnivores).  Between 20 and 40 M.Y.A. there was a burst of evolution and diversification.  This was when the two main families of carnivorous mammals were established---the Arctoids (bears, seals, dogs, etc.) and Aeluroids (cats, hyenas, mongoose, etc.)  Of the Aeluroids, the Dinictis was a successful cat-like hunter of the Oligocene epoch.  Over geologic time, the Dinictis developed and branched out to form two more recent cat-like animals, the Nimravus and the Psudaelurus in the Miocene.   These two were the beginnings of the genus Felis, which the cougar belongs to.
        The Felis genus was not recognized until the Pliocene, however, according to Edward Goldman in his Classification of the Races of the Puma, the Daggetti (recognized in the genus during the Pliocene and Pleistocene ) had a very similar teeth structure to the Psudaelurus.  From the Daggetti  and also the Bituminosa we get what is closest to the modern day Puma, the saber toothed cat.  There are fossilized remains of these three in the La Brea tarpits, but as Goldman said "The question of whether or not these species were contemporaneous can not easily be answered, especially as the escape of gases tended to produce churning movements and displacement of material held in the asphalt."  He then goes on to suggest that Daggetti may represent an earlier stage in a line of development that led through bituminosa, to the living Californica-(our local subspecies of mountain lion).  At any rate, all three have been preserved in the tar pits and can be speculated upon in their own time.  The saber toothed cat has only been extinct for about 10,000 years (the time of widespread megafauna disappearance)

Other Information:
     The Panthera and the Felis genera are not divided according to relatives with the closest D.N.A. patterns or logical steps through genetic evolution.  Instead, scientists decided to divide the two genera according to the ability to emulate a roar.  The characteristic roar, typically heard from tigers and African lions and jaguars is not possible for the cougar to produce from its larynx, or voice box.  This is because of the structure of the hyoid bone, in the animal's throat that is connected to the larynx.  The cougar’s hyoid bone is not equipped to roar because it is not big enough.  That is why the mountain lion is grouped with the house cat, in the Felis genus.  Needless to say, it is the largest species in the genus.
     Cougars do make a very distinguishable noise, much different from a roar.  It is described in Young’s book, the Mysterious American Cat, as a sort of scream.  This scream can be heard up to two miles away in an open area.   It is such a high pitched noise, that even though it may not initially be as loud as a roar decibel-wise, the sound travels much further.  The cougar also purrs, as common with all cats, and has a variety of maternal calls as well as basic communications between mating adults, rival males, etc.
         Naturalists call the male pumas tomcats.  Tomcats are 15-20% bigger than females of the same subspecies.  A fully developed male can weigh up to 200 pounds, but this is by no means typical, because a female of a different subspecies of cougar could be larger than a male of another.  However, the subspecies are dispersed throughout the continents with naturally overlapping ranges.  Therefore, size differences are usually only noticed in subspecies in entirely different geographic regions.  The puma ranges from 5.5 to 8 feet in length.  While this may sound like a larger than life figure at the upper end, one must take into account the extremely long tail of the animal.  Up to one third of the entire body length is the tail, which is essential to the successful hunting of prey.
        Having such a long tail enables the cougar to maneuver much more precisely at high speeds.  As a deer is running for its life, it will try to lose the cougar by making quick cuts to the left or right.  The cougar can follow closely by whipping the tail around and not losing any ground by taking extra steps to compensate.  To illustrate from an anthropocentric point of view, it is comparable to the handling capabilities of a sports car; tight turns taken at high speeds are only possible with high performance equipment.  This feature makes the crucial split-second difference between a hit and a miss for the cougar while pursuing prey.  Cougars have been known to jump as high as 15 feet in the air, and pounce down from 50 feet above ground level.
 

Range, Relationship with Humana, and Physical Aspects
        The cougar has shown remarkable adaptability in covering most of the Western Hemisphere.  It can withstand a variety of climate extremes with a wide range of environments.  From the sub-arctic snows in Canada to the equatorial heat in Central America, the cougar has evolved to fill many niches.  Relatively recently in its history, much of the cougars habitat has been eliminated by man.  The cougars' worst enemies are the sheep and cattle ranchers, who view the cat as a despicable pest.  Because a cougar can haul a victim five times it's size for a considerable distance, large livestock are easy and delicious prey.  They cost ranchers a lot of money every year, and it is not surprising that many states offered bounties on cougar pelts until relatively recently.
        Finally, it was determined that these predators play a vital role in regulating the growing deer populations.  The cats serve to keep the deer population healthy as well by thinning out the weak and diseased.  They counteract the deer overpopulation problem currently presenting itself, reducing  the widespread deer starvation problems associated with over population.  However, now that the cougar count is growing in some areas, some states have chosen to revert back to sport hunting.   According to the Outdoor Guide to the S.F. Bay Area, in 1987, the California Department of Fish and Game lifted the 16 year moratorium prohibiting the hunting of mountain lions.  The Dept. Of  F&G issued 190 permits that year alone.  Pumas are completely extirpated in at least 3 states.  Ohio, Indiana, and Rhode Island, and the Florida Panther has been on the endangered species list for years.
        Characteristically, the cougar is quite a timid animal when encountered by humans.  It never attacks a human unless it is provoked.  But unfortunately there are several ways to provoke a cougar.  When a human comes between a mother and her kittens, the mother is obligated by instinct to protect her young, and that means driving off the intruder by any means necessary.  A confrontation also might occur if a human unwittingly came too close to the cougar's food.  As is common with most big cats, cougars make one kill and it will last them for up to one week.  After they kill a large animal such as a deer, they will stay around the decomposing body and feed off it, and then cover it up with leaves and whatever is available to hide it from scavengers until they are hungry again.  Anyone passing by may be seen as a threat to its food source. (Update 1/04/01: Adult male cougar killed a 30 year old cross-country skier in Banff, Canada (National Post Online 1/4/01)
        A fully mature male cougar may have a range as big as 15 square miles if food is scarce, or as little as 4 square miles if food is plentiful.  On the average, a male will take about a week to circle his range.  The range of a female is roughly half that.  Male ranges seldom overlap, but a younger male who has not yet established his own territory may wander through the domain of several dominant males.  The edges of the territory are continually marked by scents to reaffirm ownership, and ensure no intrusion takes place.  Female territories overlap with each other and usually border more than one male domain, providing a choice of mating partners.
     According to Walker's studies in Idaho in 1969 by the mountain lion expert M.G. Hornocker indicate that cougars create two different ranges each year.  One for winter and spring, and another for summer and fall.  This is because the cat depends on the ungulate herds, who move from place to place as food resources become limited.  Hornocker stated in his report that for every adult cougar, there are approximately 114 deer and 87 elk, and one adult cougar occupies about 35 square kilometers.

MATING HABITS & DETERMINING AGE

    Cougars are usually solitary animals, but travel in pairs during the mating season.  The size of the prey depends on what is available, ranging from mice to moose.  They will eat young bear and wolves, and have few natural enemies, but grizzlies and wolf packs do present a problem for the cat.  They have no fixed mating season, but generally prefer spring, so the female can give birth during summer. There is about a three month gestation period.  The litter varies in size from two to four kittens, and most females choose to raise young every other year.  When the kittens are born, they weigh about one pound and are a foot long.  They arrive with their eyes tightly shut, and they do not open for a week.  When the young are born, their fur is spotted.  The spots fade after six months and are gone after a year has passed.
    Pumas have been documented to have lived for up to 19 years.  But typically in the wild, the average life span is about 9-10 years.  However, it is difficult to guess the age of a cougar without extensive testing.  The easiest way is by examining the color and wear of the teeth.  In a study done by Best and Gay for the Journal of Mamma logy, 1201 adult pumas were used to determine if  growth continues throughout the lifetime of the animal.  It was discovered that the teeth reach maturity by 2 years for both sexes but growth of the cranium continues for a longer period of time (7-9 years for males, 5-6 years for females).  Of the cougars tested, 16 of the 609 males and 35 of the 592 females did not live past the 9-10 year average age.

Map of Distribution:


Update:  1/4/01:   The National Post Online notes the a cougar apparently stalked and killed a croos-country skier in Banff.  This story can be reached at: http://www.nationalpost.com/home/story.html?f=/stories/20010104/425372.html
 

Cougar website from Canadian Wildlife Service:  http://www.cws-scf.ec.gc.ca/hww-fap/cougar/cougar.html

Bibliography
Goldman, E. A & Young, Stanley P.1946. The Puma, Mysterious American Cat
Published by The American Wildlife Inst. Washington D.C.

Hansen, Kevin. 1992. Cougar The American Lion.  Northland Publishing Co.

Whitnah, Dorothy C. 1989. Outdoor Guide to S.F. Bay Area.
Wilderness Press. p. 14.

Colliers Encyclopedia.1982. Macmillan Publishing Co. Vol 19, pg . 518

Gay, S & Best, T.1996 "Age Related Variation in Skulls Of Puma"
Journal Of Mammalogy. Vol. 77(1) pg 191-198.

Walkers Mammals of the World. 1991. 5th Ed. Vol.#2
John Hopkins Univ. Press .
 

send comments to bholzman@sfsu.edu
 

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