Photo by Jake Provonsha
Mountain lions are very powerful and normally prey upon large animals, such as deer, bighorn sheep and elk. However, they often prey on small animals such as mice, squirrels, hares, and other rodents. Raccoon, coyote and even insects such as grasshoppers are on the lion's menu. To kill a porcupine, the cougar flips it over and attacks the exposed belly, which has no quills. Today's cougar is the descendant of a Pleistocene predator that specialized in small prey.
Contrary to popular belief, cougars do not lurk in the treetops waiting to ambush passer-bys. They hunt on the ground and ambush their prey from behind. They are generally nocturnal and solitary hunters. The success of the hunt depends solely on the element of surprise. By playing in the manner of kittens, they perfect their "stalking" technique at an early age. They are classified as a "stalking predator" rather than a "pursuit predator" like the wolf. A fatal bite below the base of the skull, resulting in a broken neck, is their preferred method of killing prey. Kittens, when they are old enough, are led from the den to a kill by the mother in order to begin their weaning process. The adult cougar may cover the carcass with dirt, leaves or snow. A cougar may feed on one kill for several days. They are generally secretive and solitary, which makes it very likely for a person to live in the same area as a cougar without every seeing one.
Sometimes cougars are not nocturnal, because they need to be active at the time time their prey is active. For instance, deer are active at dawn and dusk, so a mountain lion that feeds on deer with adjust its schedule to match the deer's.
The sound the lion makes is a terrifying, elongated, piercing scream; which sounds like "the screech of a terrified woman." They also emit birdlike whistles, which are probably used to communicate where they are and instructions between a female and her kittens. One of the great mystery's about cougars is their fear of barking dogs. It is hypothesized that sometime in the cougar's evolutionary past they were preyed upon by barking animals.
Mountain lions do well in captivity and have been bred successfully in many zoological gardens. They become tame easily, and have been trained to perform in motion pictures and circus arenas.
