The Cat Survival Trust

The Puma

Felis (Puma) concolor Linnaeus

Contents

 
 
  • Description
  • Distribution
  • Diet
  • Behaviour
  • Reproduction
  • Conservation Status
  • Captive Breeding and Pumas in Captivity
  • Further Reading

    • Other names

    		  
     English:cougar, catamount, mountain lion, mountain screamer, (Florida) panther, painter
     French:puma
     German:Puma, Silberlöwe
     Spanish:léon, léon colorado, léon de montaña

    Description

    A lithe, slender animal, the puma has strong and very muscular limbs. The neck is comparatively long and the body rather elongate. They have relatively small heads with short faces. The dark ears are rounded, and not tufted. Characteristically the puma’s hind legs are longer than the front. This difference, which elevates the rump, is the greatest in the cats, and is believed to be an adaptation for jumping. A long heavy cylindrical tail is used as a counterbalance.
    The belly of a puma is whitish, and the upper lips, chin and throat are almost pure white. The sides of the muzzle are black as is the tip of the tail. Pale median patches mark the back of the ears in most but not all pumas. In tropical regions, the pumas’ pelage is short and bristly, in the higher latitudes it is longer and softer. Even in the same locality, coloration varies considerably. There seem to be two colour phases, a red and a grey phase. Red phased individuals are buff, cinnamon and tawny. They appear to predominate in tropical regions. Grey phased pumas tend to be silvery grey to bluish and slaty grey. Darker animals are found in the humid forests of the north Pacific coast, and all-black or melanistic forms have been recorded from South and Central America but never from North America.
    Pumas were once cited as good examples of Bergman’s rule, which states that animals in cooler climates are expected to have a large body size to reduce heat loss. A study showed (see Kitchener 1991) that pumas from the equator were smaller than those at the geographical latitudinal extremes. On average the equatorial animals were almost half the size of the Canadian and Patagonian pumas. However, this has been demonstrated to be the result of differences in seasonal food availability. This illustrates the variability of puma morphology. Generally they are described as being about the size of a leopard.
    Usually classified in the genus Felis, Wozencraft (1993) has placed the puma in its own genus, Puma. Despite looking like a big cat, they have many of the attributes of a small cat. Pumas can purr continuously, which the Panthera cats are unable to do. Pumas lack a thick pad of fibrous tissue in their larynxes (Why Big Cats Can Roar. Cat News 11, 1989, p.17). They can produce high pitched screams because the supporting bones of the tongue (the hyoid apparatus) are completely ossified. Their anterior upper premolars are present.
    The physical appearance of the puma varies substantially over such its vast geographical range, this has lead to as many as 29 described subspecies. Recent research suggests that all the N. American animals should be regarded as just one subspecies. Unless and until that is accepted we have:
    F. (P.) c. concolorVenezuela, Guyana
    F. (P.) c. acrocodiaSouthwest Mato Grosso to Bolivia and northern Argentina
    F. (P.) c. anthonyiSouth Venezuela
    F. (P.) c. araucanaChile and Argentina
    F. (P.) c. aztecaArizona and New Mexico to Mexico City
    F. (P.) c. bangsiWest Colombia to west Ecuador
    F. (P.) c. borbensisAmazonas to Ecuador
    F. (P.) c. browniHualpai Mountains Arizona to Catvina, Baja
    F. (P.) c. cabreraWest and central Argentina
    F. (P.) c. californicaCalifornia to northern Baja
    F. (P.) c. capricornensisSouth east Brazil to northern Argentina
    F. (P.) c. coryiArkansas and Louisiana to Florida
    F. (P.) c. costaricensisNicaragua to Panama
    F. (P.) c. cougarTennessee to east Michigan
    F. (P.) c. greeniEast Brazil to southern Amazonas
    F. (P.) c. hippolestesNorth Dakota to Wyoming and Colorado
    F. (P.) c. hudsomiSouth central Argentina
    F. (P.) c. improceraSouthern Baja, California
    F. (P.) c. incarumNorth Peru and southern Ecuador
    F. (P.) c. kaibabensisNevada, Utah and northern Arizona
    F. (P.) c. mayensisGuerro and Vera Cruz, Mexico, to Honduras
    F. (P.) c. missoulensisBritish Columbia to Idaho and Montana
    F. (P.) c. oregonensisSouth east British Columbia, Washington and Oregon
    F. (P.) c. osgoodiCentral to east Bolivia
    F. (P.) c. pearsoniPatagonia and southern Chile
    F. (P.) c. pumaCentral Chile and west Argentina
    F. (P.) c. schorgeriMinnesota and Wisconsin to Kansas and Missouri
    F. (P.) c. stanleyanaOklahoma and Texas to northeast Mexico
    F. (P.) c. vancouverensisVancouver Island
    Subspecies definitions are often the subject of considerable systematic controversy, and classifications are sometimes very speculative.
    Greenwell (1987) describes a species he calls the onza. It is said to be very like a puma but is much longer legged and has horizontal stripes on the inner forelimbs. He theorizes that it could be the result of a puma evolving to fill the niche of the long-extinct American cheetah. These arguments are supported with one specimen and several historical accounts. However, this has not been generally accepted.

    Principal dimensions

     OverallMalesFemales
    Head and Body lengths (cm)95-243105-24395-152
    Height at shoulder (cm)60-76  
    Tail lengths (cm)53-8266-8253-78
    Weight (Kg)25-11067-11025-60

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    Distribution and Habitats

    From 800 km south of the Arctic circle to the Straits of Magellan the puma is the most widely distributed large mammal in the Western Hemisphere. It is said to have been eradicated east of the Great American plains except in southern Florida in the Everglades, and also possibly in the Okefenokee Swamp in Georgia. Its northern limits are Vancouver Island, British Columbia, central Alberta, west Saskatchewan, southern Ontario and southern Quebec. In the United States it is found in most of the wilderness areas west of 100 degrees longitude, and is most numerous in the Rocky Mountain states, Texas, New Mexico and the coastal ranges of California, Oregon and Washington. Although it is said to have been been eradicated in the east of North America, there are persistent reports of sightings in the area and many people doubt the ‘official’ line that these are either misidentifications or captive animnals that have escaped.
    It has also gone from the more densely settled areas of South America.
    Pumas can live as high as 4,500 metres and in this vast range, they occupy almost all possible habitats, coniferous forest, tropical rain forest, swamp, grassland, brush country, rugged snow-country, and desert regions.

    The map shows the present distribution of Pumas in grey.
    The map is based on information in the Wild Cats Status Survey and Conservation Action Plan published by the IUCN/SSC Cat Specialist Group in 1996. See our     Books page for more details.
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    Diet

    Deer are the primary food of pumas throughout their range. They supplement their diet with other seasonally abundant prey like ground squirrels, slugs, grasshoppers, lizards, rheas, peccaries, fish, porcupines, even coyote and marten. Their diet is seasonal, depending on prey availability. Very little is known about tropical rainforest pumas, there is evidence that they eat arthropods as well as larger prey. Vegetable matter, usually grass, is eaten to aid digestion and to stimulate vomiting and the elimination of fur balls.
    Opportunistic hunters, pumas will take anything they can kill and eat. A female puma can kill a bull elk seven times its own size, crushing its trachea. They have been reported to prey on livestock. A study in Idaho revealed that on average a puma will kill one deer every ten or eleven days. Estimates were made that an adult puma would require 1.8 to 2.7 kg of meat every day. Surplus meat will be cached for later. In the Big Bend National Park in Texas, the deer population crashed. Pumas and male bobcats which had relied upon them, were forced to utilise other prey animals. In a clear example of prey switching, the next most preferred prey was the next largest, peccaries and lagomorphs.
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    Behaviour

    Activity periods of pumas are dictated, as they are for all predators, by their prey. Pumas are primarily nocturnal, but they may be forced to hunt during the day. In the south west USA the primary summer prey is the Columbian ground squirrel, which is only active during the day. Resting periods of these cats are usually spent in thick cover. Behavioural flexibility is an important survival mechanism.
    Female pumas maintain large exclusive home ranges, measured from 396 to 1,454 km2. Some have been recorded in the range 13 to 38 km2. Male ranges have been described as 39 to 826 km2 but they often travel further in the summer. Resident males will use overlapping areas, but close spatial associations are rare. In Utah, Hemker et. al.. (1984) demonstrated that puma distribution was limited by mule deer abundance. The owner of a range marks the boundaries by scraping faeces into a mound and urinating on them. Puma densities tend to vary from 0.3 to 4.4 individuals per 100 km2.
    Pumas avoid humans and incidents of them killing people are extremely rare. Argentinian folk tales emphasise the harmless nature of the puma. Most of the reported cases of pumas attacking people in North America have not been verified. The ones which have, involved ill, injured or immature animals. There has been recent publicity of an increase in puma attacks on humans (Pumas and People. Cat News 16, 1992, p. 11-12). In the United States and Canada there were seven documented attacks in the 1980’s. In 1990 there were three. If people are sensible in areas where pumas are likely to be, there will be no problems.
    In North America pumas are reputed to scream like a woman in agony. As a result, they have been called “mountain screamers”.
    Cannibalism and infanticide among pumas has been recorded, usually in stressful situations.
    Jaguars and pumas are in almost direct competition throughout most of their mutual distribution (Rabinowitz 1987). The smaller and less powerful puma probably gives way in confrontations. They are known always to avoid grizzly bears, and there is a documented case where a puma came off worst in an encounter with a wolverine.
    Pumas are reported to be able to jump 12 metres and to swim very well. Generally solitary, co-operative hunting has been observed outside the family group, but this is very unusual. Puma hunting strategies tend to be a stalk and final rush or to wait in ambush. They will squat as they feed, as small cats do. The big or Panthera cats lie down and use their front feet.
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    Reproduction

    During an eight day oestrus, the female may be courted by as many as five noisily fighting males. Partner associations may last for two weeks, but the female may seek other matings. The male holds the female by the scruff of the neck during intercourse. Copulation may be as frequent as 70 times every day during oestrus.
    Gestation lasts for 90 to 98 days and one to four cubs are born in a cave or thicket. Exceptional litters of six have been observed. The cubs are yellowish brown, have deep black ears and are marked with irregular rows of large black spots. Their tails are ringed. When they are six and 12 months old these markings mostly disappear. Some of the adult tropical pumas retain faint traces.
    20-30 cm long at birth, the cubs weigh between 220 and 500 grammes. By ten days their eyes open, and within six weeks they have taken their first meat. In two months the cubs venture out of the den and by six months they can kill their own food.
    Young pumas usually disperse from the maternal ranges at 18 months and are able to breed at three years. Females are sexually mature at 29 months.
    In North America there are records of very young cubs in every month. However, the majority are born in late winter, or early spring. If few food resources are available, births can be delayed. Captive pumas can live for more than 20 years.
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    Conservation Status

    Pumas in North America have a long history of extensive persecution by white settlers. They have been practically eradicated in the east of the United States. The Florida panther is a relict population. Native Americans have a long history of interaction with the puma. Cochiti tribes who lived in present-day New Mexico, carved a pair of life-sized pumas into the bedrock of a mesa. It was a shrine that some still visit today. The ancient Peruvian city of Cuzco was laid out in the shape of a puma. The Inca feared and respected them as deities.
    Livestock are regarded by pumas as food, particularly when their natural prey has been overhunted by people. This has then been used as an excuse for persecution. Social attitudes dictate that in ranchlands, a moving animal must be shot. Hunting is a very major threat in Latin America (Brooks 1992). A puma in Patagonia was killed by a cow after it had killed the cow’s calf. Rabies in pumas has been recorded, a fact which humans have used as an excuse to eradicate their populations.
    P. c. cougar was believed to be extinct, but there is now evidence that it is still surviving in southern Canada and New England (Tischendorf 1992).
    There is considerable effort being made to safeguard the future of the Florida panther (P. c. coryi) (Conservation Programme for Florida Panther. Cat News 16, 1992, p. 13). Radio collared animals have been traced by hunters, some have died due to mercury pollution, but the most significant killers of Florida panthers are collisions with vehicles. There are less than 50 in the wild, if their decline continues, they will be extinct in 25 to 40 years (Florida Panther Habitat Protection Plan. Cat News 18, 1993, p. 14).
    The International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN) list the cougar and coryi subspecies as Critically Endangered (Conservation and Legal Status of Wild Cats. Cat News 23, 1995, p. 21). In Chile the puma was formerly regarded as being Vulnerable generally, but in the north Endangered (Endangered Cats in Chile. Cat News 10, 1989, p. 6). The new Red List does not separate these from other pumas which are classed as Least Concern.
    International commerce in both the cougar and coryi subspecies and P. c. costaricensis is prohibited under Appendix I of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES). Trade in products other than these subspecies is strictly limited under international law (CITES Appendix II).
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    Florida Panther Net

    Visit this dedicated Web Site to learn about the small population of pumas living in Florida, USA and the efforts being made to ensure their continued survival.

    Captive Breeding and Pumas in Captivity

    Zoos with Pumas


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    Last revision 18th June, 2002

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