The name cougar is a combination of the two Brazilian words for the jaguar (Pantera onca); cuacuara and quacuara. The name puma, adopted in the late 1700s by the Spanish conquistadores, comes from the Peruvian Quechua Indians.
The cougar was originally described as Felis concolor by Linnaeus in 1758 and later recognized as Felis (Puma) concolor by Jardine in 1834, with puma recognized as a subgenus of Felis. In 1973 taxonomists reclassified Puma as a separate genus.
Molecular evidence indicates that the cougar is a member of the puma lineage, which includes cheetah and jaguarandi and not allied with the small cat genus Felis.
Cougar is its South American name and name comes from the Quechua language spoken by the Incas.
The cougar is the second-largest cat in the western hemisphere. It is also one of the fastest and most powerful of animals. But it tires quickly. It is powerful enough to kill with its bite or its claws.
Cougars have an amazing ability to adapt to almost any type of habitat. They can swim, climb trees, and jump up to 15 feet high.
All the skills, along with their sharp eyesight and keen hearing, make them excellent hunters that can adapt to life in mountains, forest, desert, plains and wetlands.
The cougar generally subsists on birds and small quadruples, such as young deer, raccoons, skunks and the like: in South America the monkeys and peccaries frequently become its prey.
Mountain lion of Cougar
