Fast facts: cougar

Name game: The cougar’s scientific name , Felis concolor , means “cat of one color”. The cougar may be only one color, but it has a lot of names. It’s called a mountain lion, puma, painter, wild cat, deer tiger and catamount.

And if it lives in Florida, it’s usually called a panter.

A Home for the Family: Just before her babies are born, a mother cougar looks around for a safe, cozy den. It can be a cave, a rocky crevice, or a protected nook under an uprooted tree. There she'll give birth and stay for a few months to raise her cubs.

Single Parent: The mother cougar is the only parent the only parent the cubs will know. The father gets- together with the mom just long enough to mate. Then he goes back to living alone as usual.

Tiny Tots Shoot Up: New- born cougar cubs weigh one pound (.45 kg) or less. But not for long — within eight weeks, they'll be the size of full-grown house cats.

Whtchful Mom: Sometimes too many pesky insects such as fleas may move into a den. Or if a den is not well hidden, an eagle may try to snatch a cub. So the mother cougar may look for a new den. But how will she get her young cubs there? She'll gently carry them one by one — in her mouth.

King of the Stump: cubs like to scratch and climb on tree trunks and stumps. This ittle climber was enjoying the view from its perch... until it saw a photographer creeping close. Then it got scared. It threw its head and ears back and hissed. "Go away!” it seemed to say.

Play Day: Frisky cubs can long hours romping about and wrestling with each other. These two (below) are dashing over to Mom to see what she's up to. Maybe they can get her to play with them! Good Mom sometimes lets them playfully bite and chew on her ears and tail.

Family meals: To feed itself, a cougar may kill a deer every two weeks. But what about a mother with fast-growing cubs? She may kill a deer every three days! Feeding hungry cubs sure keeps a mom busy. Home Schooling: The cubs spotted fur begins to fade when. hey're just a few months old. By then, the cubs spend most f their time tagging along after their mom. For the next year or so, she will be extra busy keeping them out of trouble and teaching them to be good hunters. Then each young cougar will go off and live on its own.

Big Menu: Cougars usually hunt for deer. But when they can't find deer, they nab elk, moose, raccoons, squirrels, porcupines, birds, rabbits, beavers, mice, rats, and even grasshoppers. That's one reason cougars can live in so many places. They almost always can find something to eat.

Leftovers for Tomorrow: A cougar can chomp down a rabbit the way you eat a ham- burger. But a deer — that's enough chow for half a dozen meals! So what does a cougar do with its leftovers? This one is covering the remains of a deer to keep other animals from finding it. (Can you see a hoof poking out of the leaves?)

During the next few days, when the cougar’s not sleep- ing or lazing around, it'll come back for easy meals.

Get Ready, Get Set... A cougar may begin its hunt for food by hiding in a patch of bushes. Then, when it sees an animal it wants to nab, it crouches down and moves slowly, s-l-o-w-l-y toward the prey. To be extra quiet, this tricky cat sometimes puts its hind paws in the marks made by his front paws. That way there’s less chance of a twig snapping or a leaf rustling.

…Go! When the moment is right, the cougar dashes at its prey in a lightning-fast attack. It often kills the prey instantly-with one swift bite to the back of the neck.

Fast Food: If an animal hears or sees a cougar coming, it usually takes off lickety-split. But a cougar can sprint after its prey at 40 miles (64 km) per hour. (That's 58 feet, or 17 m, per second!)

No Trespassing: Each male cougar lives in an area called a home range. Along the edge of his lieve range, a cougar paws the ground and makes piles of twigs, leaves, and dirt. (These piles are called scrapes.) Then he "marks" each scrape with a splash of urine. When other males come upon a scrape, they know the area is already taken. And they usually go away.

Funny Noises: Cougars don't roar or scream, but they sure make a bunch of noises! They can growl, hiss, chirp, purr, and even meow. Another noise they make sounds like a bird's whistle. A mother cougar may whistle to let her cubs know where she is or to give them an order.

Scaredy-cats: These big, bold cats aren't afraid of much. But one thing scares them stiff. Can you guess what? Barking dogs! Even the yaps of a little poodle can make a big cougar bolt up the nearest tree in fear!