Mountain Lion
The mountain lion is a magnificent hunter, rare to see in the wild due to their superior stealth skills.
About This Species
The mountain lion is called by more names than any other Colorado mammal – cougar, puma, panther, catamount or just plain lion – and all connote respect for a magnificent hunter.
Living with Mountain Lions
While mountain lions are generally an elusive animal who avoids interaction with humans, there are some common sense measures that can be taken to protect yourself and your pets when living in lion country.
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Physical Characteristics
Adult mountain lions are more than six feet long, with a graceful, black-tipped tail that is 32 inches long. They weigh 130 pounds or more. Color is reddish to buffy, with a paler underside.
Range
Cougars have the largest geographic range of any American native mammal other than humans – from western Canada to Argentina. Once they ranged from coast to coast in the United States, but today eastern populations are extinct or endangered; the West is their stronghold.
Habitat
In Colorado they are most abundant in foothills, canyons or mesa country. They are more at home in brushy areas and woodlands than in forests or open prairies.
Diet
Active year round, the lion’s staple diet is deer. Adults maintain their condition by eating a deer a week. Cougars hunt by stealth, often pouncing on prey from a tree or rock overhanging a game trail. The deer is often killed cleanly with a broken neck. The cat gorges on the carcass until it can eat no more, covers the remainder with leaves or conifer needles, then fasts for a few days, digesting and resting.
Reproduction
Mountain lions may breed at any time of year, but mating peaks in the spring. Births are most common in July, after a gestation period of about 14 weeks. Two or three spotted, fist-sized (about one pound) kittens are a typical litter. They are weaned about six weeks of age, at about eight times their birth weight.