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81-701: The reserve is contiguous with the border of the United States and part of the Malpai Borderlands , a ranching and conservation area in New Mexico and Arizona . The region contains petroglyphs and arrowheads left by prehistoric hunter-gatherers. The region would have been under the influence of the Mogollon culture , part of the Oasisamerica grouping of cultures. The town of Janos

162-454: A comprehensive literature review of more than 160 studies on cougar ecology, ecological interactions with 485 other species in cougar-inhabited ecosystems have been shown to involve different areas of interaction, ranging from the use of other species as food sources and prey, fear effects on potential prey, effects from carcass remains left behind, to competitive effects on other predator species in shared habitat. The most common research topic in

243-507: A female reaches estrous again, her offspring must disperse or the male will kill them. Males tend to disperse further than females. One study has shown a high mortality rate among cougars that travel farthest from their maternal range, often due to conflicts with other cougars. In a study area in New Mexico , males dispersed farther than females, traversed large expanses of non-cougar habitat and were probably most responsible for nuclear gene flow between habitat patches. Life expectancy in

324-766: A female's litter can have multiple paternities. Copulation is brief but frequent. Chronic stress can result in low reproductive rates in captivity as well as in the field. Gestation is 82–103 days long. Only females are involved in parenting. Litter size is between one and six cubs, typically two. Caves and other alcoves that offer protection are used as litter dens. Born blind, cubs are completely dependent on their mother at first and begin to be weaned at around three months of age. As they grow, they go out on forays with their mother, first visiting kill sites and, after six months, beginning to hunt small prey on their own. Kitten survival rates are just over one per litter. Juveniles remain with their mothers for one to two years. When

405-484: A foremost crepuscular and nocturnal activity pattern in a ranching area in southern Argentina. Home range sizes and overall cougar abundance depend on terrain, vegetation, and prey abundance. Research suggests a lower limit of 25 km (9.7 sq mi) and upper limit of 1,300 km (500 sq mi) of home range for males. Large male home ranges of 150 to 1,000 km (58 to 386 sq mi) with female ranges half that size. One female adjacent to

486-468: A kill to a preferred spot, covers it with brush, and returns to feed over a period of days. The cougar is generally reported to not be a scavenger , but deer carcasses left exposed for study were scavenged by cougars in California, suggesting more opportunistic behavior. Aside from humans, no species preys upon mature cougars in the wild, although conflicts with other predators or scavengers occur. Of

567-517: A large pack of seven to 11 wolves killing a female cougar and her kittens, while in nearby Sun Valley, Idaho , a 2-year-old male cougar was found dead, apparently killed by a wolf pack. Conversely, one-to-one confrontations tend to be dominated by the cat, and there are various documented accounts where wolves have been ambushed and killed, including adult male specimens. Wolves more broadly affect cougar population dynamics and distribution by dominating territory and prey opportunities, and disrupting

648-424: A powerful leap onto the back of its prey and a suffocating neck bite. The cougar can break the neck of some of its smaller prey with a strong bite and momentum bearing the animal to the ground. Kills are generally estimated around one large ungulate every two weeks. The period shrinks for females raising young, and may be as short as one kill every three days when cubs are nearly mature around 15 months. The cat drags

729-873: A tree. The cougar has the most extensive range of any wild land animal in the Americas, spanning 110 degrees of latitude from the Yukon in Canada to the southern Andes in Chile. The species was extirpated from eastern North America, aside from Florida, but they may be recolonizing their former range and isolated populations have been documented east of their contemporary ranges in both the Midwestern US and Canada. The cougar lives in all forest types, lowland and mountainous deserts, and in open areas with little vegetation up to an elevation of 5,800 m (19,000 ft). In

810-467: Is a learned behavior and they do not generally recognize humans as prey. In a 10-year study in New Mexico of wild cougars who were not habituated to humans, the animals did not exhibit threatening behavior to researchers who approached closely (median distance=18.5 m; 61 feet) except in 6% of cases; 14 ⁄ 16 of those were females with cubs. Attacks on people, livestock, and pets may occur when

891-473: Is a mostly solitary animal. Only mothers and kittens live in groups, with adults meeting rarely. While generally loners, cougars will reciprocally share kills and seem to organize themselves into small communities defined by the territories of dominant males. Cats within these areas socialize more frequently with each other than with outsiders. In the vicinity of a cattle ranch in northern Mexico, cougars exhibited nocturnal activity that overlapped foremost with

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972-413: Is a partial skull from the late Calabrian ( Ensenadan ) age. The head of the cougar is round, and the ears are erect. Its powerful forequarters, neck, and jaw serve to grasp and hold large prey. It has four retractile claws on its hind paws and five on its forepaws, of which one is a dewclaw . The larger front feet and claws are adaptations for clutching prey. Cougars are slender and agile members of

1053-559: Is afforded protection under the Endangered Species Act . The Texas Mountain Lion Conservation Project was launched in 2009 and aimed at raising local people's awareness of the status and ecological role of the cougar and mitigating conflict between landowners and cougars. The cougar is threatened by habitat loss , habitat fragmentation , and depletion of its prey base due to poaching . Hunting

1134-533: Is also sometimes used in the United States. The first use of puma in English dates to 1777, introduced from Spanish from the Quechua language . In the western United States and Canada, it is also called "mountain lion", a name first used in writing in 1858. Other names include "panther" (although it does not belong to the genus Panthera ) and "catamount" (meaning "cat of the mountains"). Felis concolor

1215-400: Is apparently correlated with the presence of other predators, prey species, livestock and humans. It is an ambush predator that pursues a wide variety of prey. Ungulates , particularly deer , are its primary prey, but it also hunts rodents . It is territorial and lives at low population densities. Individual home ranges depend on terrain, vegetation and abundance of prey. While large, it

1296-560: Is believed to have originated in Asia about 11 million years ago ( Mya ). Taxonomic research on felids remains partial, and much of what is known about their evolutionary history is based on mitochondrial DNA analysis. Significant confidence intervals exist with suggested dates. In the latest genomic study of the Felidae, the common ancestor of today's Leopardus , Lynx , Puma , Prionailurus , and Felis lineages migrated across

1377-716: Is borderline BW (arid desert) and BS (semi-arid steppe) in the Köppen Classification system. Average monthly temperatures for Animas range from 44 °F (7 °C) in January to 80 °F (27 °C) in July. Annual precipitation averages 11.67 in (296 mm). In what is called the North American Monsoon , most precipitation is received July thru September. Annual snowfall totals an average of 5 in (130 mm). Precipitation, however,

1458-413: Is highly variable from year to year with drought common. The mountain ranges rising above the semi-desert lowlands have greater precipitation and lower average temperatures. Average temperatures decline about 3.6°F (2.2°C) and precipitation increases by 3.9 in (99 mm) to 4.9 in (120 mm) with each 1,000 ft (300 m) increase in elevation. Thus, the climate of the higher mountains

1539-403: Is legal in the western United States. In Florida, heavy traffic causes frequent accidents involving cougars. Highways are a major barrier to the dispersal of cougars. The cougar populations in California are becoming fragmented with the increase in human population and infrastructure growth in the state. Human–wildlife conflict in proximity of 5 km (1.9 sq mi) of cougar habitat

1620-664: Is less. Whereas the size of cougars tends to increase as much as distance from the equator increases, which crosses the northern portion of South America, jaguars are generally smaller north of the Amazon River in South America and larger south of it. For example, while South American jaguars are comparatively large, and may exceed 90 kg (200 lb), North American jaguars in Mexico's Chamela-Cuixmala Biosphere Reserve weigh approximately 50 kg (110 lb), about

1701-565: Is lower in areas closer to the equator . A survey of North America research found 68% of prey items were ungulates, especially deer. Only the Florida panther showed variation, often preferring feral hogs and armadillos . Cougars have been known to prey on introduced gemsbok populations in New Mexico . One individual cougar was recorded as hunting 29 gemsbok, which made up 58% of its recorded kills. Most gemsbok kills were neonates, but some adults were also known to have been taken. Elsewhere in

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1782-650: Is not always the dominant apex predator in its range, yielding prey to other predators. It is reclusive and mostly avoids people. Fatal attacks on humans are rare but increased in North America as more people entered cougar habitat and built farms. The cougar is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List . Intensive hunting following European colonization of the Americas and ongoing human development into cougar habitat has caused populations to decline in most parts of its historical range. In particular,

1863-507: Is pronounced in areas with a median human density of 32.48 inhabitants/km (84.1 inhabitants/sq mi) and a median livestock population density of 5.3 heads/km (14 heads/sq mi). Conflict is generally lower in areas more than 16.1 km (10.0 mi) away from roads and 27.8 km (17.3 mi) away from settlements. Due to the expanding human population , cougar ranges increasingly overlap with areas inhabited by humans. Attacks on humans are very rare, as cougar prey recognition

1944-539: Is substantially different than that of the lowlands with average annual precipitation reaching perhaps 20 in (510 mm). Changes in elevation result in more abundant and different characteristics of flora and fauna. In 1990 the Nature Conservancy purchased the Gray Ranch, with an area of 502 sq mi (1,300 km ) from a Mexican owner. The Animas Mountains were within the boundaries of

2025-545: The valleys. Grassland and shrub land make up 87.9 percent of the vegetation in the Madrean region mostly in the valleys and lower elevations of the mountains. At higher elevations, are piñon , juniper , and Madrean oak woodlands. The highest elevations of the Animas mountains are cloaked with coniferous forests. Cottonwoods and sycamores grow near watercourses and springs. The total number of plant species within

2106-659: The Animas Mountains . Mountain ranges run north-south. Vegetation is desert shrub and grassland at lower elevations, transitioning to pinon - juniper and oak - pine woodlands, with coniferous forests at the highest elevations. Cattle ranching is the main economic activity. In the 1990s, ranchers in the Malpai formed the Malpai Borderlands Group devoted to the preservation of privately-owned ranches combined with practices to improve and manage

2187-703: The Bering land bridge into the Americas 8.0 to 8.5 million years ago. The lineages subsequently diverged in that order. North American felids then invaded South America 2–4   Mya as part of the Great American Interchange , following the formation of the Isthmus of Panama . The cheetah lineage is suggested by some studies to have diverged from the Puma lineage in the Americas and migrated back to Asia and Africa, while other research suggests

2268-598: The Cockscomb Basin of Belize were nocturnal but avoided each other. In a protected cloud forest in the central Andes of Colombia, cougars were active from late afternoon to shortly before sunrise and sometimes during noon and early afternoon. In protected areas of the Madidi - Tambopata Landscape in Bolivia and Peru, cougars were active throughout the day but with a tendency to nocturnal activity that overlapped with

2349-460: The Felidae . They are the fourth largest cat species worldwide; adults stand about 60 to 90 cm (24 to 35 in) tall at the shoulders. Adult males are around 2.4 m (7 ft 10 in) long from nose to tail tip, and females average 2.05 m (6 ft 9 in), with overall ranges between 1.50 to 2.75 m (4 ft 11 in to 9 ft 0 in) nose to tail suggested for

2430-630: The Madrean Region which includes the arid and semi-arid borderlands of the United States and Mexico from California to Texas . The Malpai consists of steep, narrow mountain ranges separated by grassy, semi-arid plains. The lowest elevations are about 3,700 feet in the San Bernardino National Wildlife Refuge . The highest elevation is 8,565 ft (2,611 m) above mean sea level (AMSL) in

2511-820: The San Andres Mountains was found with a big range of 215 km (83 sq mi), necessitated by poor prey abundance. Research has shown cougar abundances from 0.5 animals to as many as seven per 100 km (39 sq mi). Male home ranges include or overlap with females but, at least where studied, not with those of other males. The home ranges of females overlap slightly. Males create scrapes composed of leaves and duff with their hind feet, and mark them with urine and sometimes feces . When males encounter each other, they vocalize and may engage in violent conflict if neither backs down. Cougars communicate with various vocalizations. Aggressive sounds include growls, spits, snarls, and hisses. During

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2592-884: The Santa Ana Mountains , it prefers steep canyons, escarpments, rim rocks and dense brush. In Mexico, it was recorded in the Sierra de San Carlos . In the Yucatán Peninsula , it inhabits secondary and semi- deciduous forests in El Eden Ecological Reserve . In El Salvador , it was recorded in the lower montane forest in Montecristo National Park and in a river basin in the Morazán Department above 700 m (2,300 ft) in 2019. In Colombia , it

2673-618: The eastern cougar population is considered to be mostly locally extinct in eastern North America since the early 20th century, with the exception of the isolated Florida panther subpopulation. The word cougar is borrowed from the Portuguese çuçuarana , via French; it was originally derived from the Tupi language . A current form in Brazil is suçuarana . In the 17th century, Georg Marcgrave named it cuguacu ara . Marcgrave's rendering

2754-590: The panther , mountain lion , catamount and puma , is a large cat native to the Americas. It inhabits North , Central and South America , making it the most widely distributed wild, terrestrial mammal in the Western Hemisphere , and one of the most widespread in the world. Its range spans the Yukon , British Columbia and Alberta provinces of Canada , the Rocky Mountains and areas in

2835-486: The 1920s. This older population is known as the Janos-Hidalgo bison herd, and its persistence for nearly 100 years confirms that habitat for bison is suitable in northern Mexico. This is consistent with archeological records and historical accounts from Mexican archives from AD 700 to the 19th century documenting that the southern extent of the historic range of the bison included northern Mexico and adjoining areas in

2916-695: The Interior Manuel Lujan sided with the ranchers. As a result in 1993, the Nature Conservancy sold the ranch to the newly created Animas Foundation. The conditions of the sale prohibited the Foundation from developing the land but permitted continued cattle grazing. The name of the Gray Ranch was changed to the Diamond A. In the midst of the controversy surrounding the Gray Ranch, a group of local ranchers banded together to form

2997-520: The Malpai Borderlands Group. The goal of the Group was to preserve the land in the Malpai region from fragmentation, i.e. the division of large ranches into small "ranchettes" as is common in the American West , and to manage the land in a way that benefited both ranchers and plant and animal life. The Malpai Borderlands Group included scientists and environmentalists among its members. By 2021,

3078-759: The Malpai Borderlands consist of a series of north-south rending mountain ranges separated by broad, mostly flat valleys. The eastern border of the Malpai consists of the Little Hatchet , Big Hatchet and Alamo Hueco ranges. The Playas Valley is west of these ranges followed by the Animas Mountains , the Animas and San Luis Valleys, the Peloncillo Mountains , and the San Bernardino Valley . The Padilla Mountains form

3159-523: The Malpai is that it borders Mexico for approximately 75 miles (121 km) and extends northward from the border for up to 50 miles (80 km). The area is 2,700 sq mi (7,000 km ) of which about 2,000 sq mi (5,200 km ) is in Hidalgo and Grant counties, New Mexico and 700 sq mi (1,800 km ) is in Cochise County, Arizona . The Malpai Borderlands share

3240-466: The United States. Establishing wildlife corridors and protecting sufficient range areas are critical for the sustainability of cougar populations. Research simulations showed that it faces a low extinction risk in areas larger than 2,200 km (850 sq mi). Between one and four new individuals entering a population per decade markedly increases persistence, thus highlighting the importance of habitat corridors. The Florida panther population

3321-611: The United States. On 8 December 2009, the Janos Biosphere Reserve was officially created through a presidential decree by then- President Felipe Calderón and published in the Official Journal of the Federation . As of May 2017, there were 138 bison living at Janos. In 2020, 19 plains bisons were transported to Maderas del Carmen , and formed the second rewilded herd in Mexico. The total area of

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3402-506: The accomplishments of the Malpai Borderlands group included agreements with fifteen ranchers for conservation easements on 280,000 acres (110,000 ha) of land in addition to the conservation easement on the Gray ranch of 320,000 acres (130,000 ha). The easements protect the land from subdivision and development. Cougar Also see text The cougar ( Puma concolor ) ( / ˈ k uː ɡ ər / , KOO-gər ), also known as

3483-552: The activity of calves . In a nature reserve in central Mexico, the activity of cougars was crepuscular and nocturnal, overlapping largely with the activity of the nine-banded armadillo ( Dasypus novemcinctus ). Cougars in the montane Abra-Tanchipa Biosphere Reserve in southeastern Mexico displayed a cathemeral activity pattern. Data from 12 years of camera trapping in the Pacific slope and Talamanca Cordillera of Costa Rica showed cougars as cathemeral. Both cougars and jaguars in

3564-907: The activity of main prey species. During an 8-year-long study in a modified landscape in southeastern Brazil, male cougars were primarily nocturnal, but females were active at night and day. Cougars were diurnal in the Brazilian Pantanal , but crepuscular and nocturnal in protected areas in the Cerrado , Caatinga and ecotone biomes. Cougars in the Atlantic Forest were active throughout the day but displayed peak activity during early mornings in protected areas and crepuscular and nocturnal activity in less protected areas. In central Argentina, cougars were active day and night in protected areas but were active immediately after sunset and before sunrise outside protected areas. Cougars displayed

3645-736: The authors of Mammal Species of the World recognized the following six subspecies in 2005: In 2006, the Florida panther was still referred to as a distinct subspecies P. c. coryi in research works. As of 2017 , the Cat Classification Taskforce of the Cat Specialist Group recognizes only two subspecies as valid : Lynx Cheetah A. jubatus [REDACTED] Cougar [REDACTED] Jaguarundi H. yagouaroundi [REDACTED] Felis Otocolobus Prionailurus The family Felidae

3726-539: The average female in the same region averages about 42 kg (93 lb). On average, adult male cougars in British Columbia weigh 56.7 kg (125 lb) and adult females 45.4 kg (100 lb), though several male cougars in British Columbia weighed between 86.4 and 95.5 kg (190 and 211 lb). Depending on the locality, cougars can be smaller or bigger than jaguars but are less muscular and not as powerfully built, so on average, their weight

3807-434: The cats take prey more frequently and spend less time feeding on each kill. Unlike several subordinate predators from other ecosystems, cougars do not appear to exploit spatial or temporal refuges to avoid competitors. The gray wolf and the cougar compete more directly for prey, mostly in winter. Packs of wolves can steal cougars' kills, and there are some documented cases of cougars being killed by them. One report describes

3888-557: The cheetah diverged in the Old World itself. A high level of genetic similarity has been found among North American cougar populations, suggesting they are all fairly recent descendants of a small ancestral group. Culver et al. propose the original North American cougar population was extirpated during the Pleistocene extinctions some 10,000 years ago, when other large mammals, such as Smilodon , also disappeared. North America

3969-511: The cougar diet. Learned, individual prey recognition was observed, as some cougars rarely killed bighorn sheep, while others relied heavily on the species. In the Central and South American cougar range area, the ratio of deer in the diet declines. Small to mid-sized mammals, including large rodents such as the capybara , are preferred. Ungulates accounted for only 35% of prey items in one survey, about half that of North America. Competition with

4050-431: The cougar, 32 cougar zoological specimens were described and proposed as subspecies until the late 1980s. Genetic analysis of cougar mitochondrial DNA indicates that many of these are too similar to be recognized as distinct at a molecular level but that only six phylogeographic groups exist. The Florida panther samples showed a low microsatellite variation, possibly due to inbreeding . Following this research,

4131-424: The cougar. The cougar has been listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List since 2008. However, it is also listed on CITES Appendix II . Hunting it is prohibited in California, Costa Rica , Honduras , Nicaragua , Guatemala , Panama , Venezuela , Colombia, French Guiana , Suriname , Bolivia , Brazil, Chile, Paraguay , Uruguay and most of Argentina. Hunting is regulated in Canada, Mexico, Peru , and

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4212-573: The extinction of grizzly bears ( Ursus arctos horribilis ), Mexican wolves ( Canis lupus baileyi ) and imperial woodpeckers ( Campephilus imperialis ) that inhabited the mountains. In 1988, a complex of black-tailed prairie dog ( Cynomys ludovicianu ) burrows estimated to be 55,000 hectares (140,000 acres) was discovered. In 1991, the Institute of Ecology of the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) began

4293-659: The feline's behavior. Preliminary research in Yellowstone , for instance, has shown displacement of the cougar by wolves. One researcher in Oregon noted: "When there is a pack around, cougars are not comfortable around their kills or raising kittens [...] A lot of times a big cougar will kill a wolf, but the pack phenomenon changes the table." Both species are capable of killing mid-sized predators, such as bobcats , Canada lynxes , wolverines and coyotes , and tend to suppress their numbers. Although cougars can kill coyotes,

4374-466: The first biological studies in the area and in 2001 a reintroduction program of the endangered black-footed ferret ( Mustela nigripes ) was started by the institution. In January 2002, the process to be included in the Comisión Nacional de Áreas Naturales Protegidas (CONANP) was initiated. Mexican wolf ( Canis lupus baileyi ) became locally extinct within Mexico. Captive breeding program

4455-566: The geography of neighboring Mexico , including the Janos Biosphere Reserve , a 2,000 sq mi (5,200 km ) conservation region bordering the New Mexican portion of the Malpai. Within the larger area the Malpai Borderlands Group of ranchers is devoted to environmentally-sensitive ranching and preservation of the traditional use of the land for cattle ranching. The lands within the borders defined by members of

4536-567: The group total 800,000 acres (320,000 ha) (1,250 sq miles) of which 53 percent of the land is privately owned and 47 percent is publicly owned by the states of New Mexico and Arizona and the U.S. Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management . Fewer than 100 families reside on these lands. Also within the Malpai Borderlands is the San Bernardino National Wildlife Refuge in Arizona, consisting of 2,309 acres (934 ha). The terrain of

4617-484: The land in an environmentally-sensitive manner. Much of the land is protected from development and subdivision by conservation easements . Malpai is an Americanization of the Spanish word malpaís , which can be translated as bad lands . The word is sometimes spelled Malapai . The boundaries of the Malpai Borderlands are indefinite. Located in southwestern New Mexico and southeastern Arizona, one definition of

4698-863: The large predators in Yellowstone National Park – the grizzly and black bears , gray wolf and cougar – the massive grizzly bear appears dominant, often (though not always) able to drive a gray wolf pack, black bear or cougar off their kills. One study found that grizzlies and American black bears visited 24% of cougar kills in Yellowstone and Glacier National Parks , usurping 10% of carcasses. Bears gained up to 113%, and cougars lost up to 26% of their daily energy requirements from these encounters. In Colorado and California, black bears were found to visit 48% and 77% of kills, respectively. In general, cougars are subordinate to black bears when it comes to killing, and when bears are most active,

4779-429: The larger jaguar in South America has been suggested for the decline in the size of prey items. In Central or North America, the cougar and jaguar share the same prey, depending on its abundance. Other listed prey species of the cougar include mice , porcupines , American beavers , raccoons , hares , guanacoes , peccaries , vicuñas , rheas and wild turkeys . Birds and small reptiles are sometimes preyed upon in

4860-429: The latter have been documented attempting to prey on cougar cubs. The cougar and jaguar share overlapping territory in the southern portion of its range. The jaguar tends to take the larger prey where ranges overlap, reducing both the cougar's potential size and the likelihood of direct competition between the two cats. Cougars appear better than jaguars at exploiting a broader prey niche and smaller prey. The cougar

4941-464: The literature used here was the cougar's diet and its prey's regulation. The cougar is a generalist hypercarnivore . It prefers large mammals such as mule deer , white-tailed deer , elk , moose , mountain goat and bighorn sheep . It opportunistically takes smaller prey such as rodents , lagomorphs , smaller carnivores, birds, and even domestic animals, including pets. The mean weight of cougar vertebrate prey increases with its body weight and

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5022-442: The mating season, estrus females produce caterwauls or yowls to attract mates, and males respond with similar vocals. Mothers and offspring keep in contact with whistles, chirps, and mews. Females reach sexual maturity at the age of 18 months to three years and are in estrus for about eight days of a 23-day cycle; the gestation period is approximately 91 days. Both adult males and females may mate with multiple partners, and

5103-436: The ranch. The Nature Conservancy began negotiations with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to turn the ranch into a wildlife refuge and exclude cattle grazing, the principle economic activity of the ranch. Local ranchers lobbied against the sale of the ranch to the U.S. government. The ranchers saw the proposed transfer of the land to the government as part of a movement to prevent cattle grazing on public lands. Secretary of

5184-418: The region is estimated at 4,000. The Malpai Borderlands are an area of high diversity. An estimated "104 species of mammal , 327 species of birds , 136 species of reptiles and amphibians , and the greatest known richness of bee species in the world" inhabit the Malpai. The climate of Animas, New Mexico on the northern edge of the Malpai Borderlands at an elevation of about 4,500 ft (1,400 m)

5265-462: The reserve include: the pronghorn ( Antilocapra americana ), North American porcupine ( Erethizon dorsatum ), green toad ( Anaxyrus debilis ), cougar ( Puma concolor ), burrowing owl ( Athene cunicularia ), golden eagle ( Aquila chrysaetos ) and American black bear ( Ursus americanus ). Notable plant species in the reserve include the cimarron walnut ( Juglans major ) and biznaga cabeza de viejo ( Mammillaria senilis ). In mountains of

5346-455: The reserve is 526,482 hectares (1,300,970 acres; 2,032.76 sq mi), which includes 218,630 hectares (540,200 acres) of grassland, 65,539 hectares (161,950 acres) of pine-oak forests , 24,873 hectares (61,460 acres) of halophyte vegetation and 3,681 hectares (9,100 acres) of riparian areas . There are 383 species of fauna in the reserve, of which 79 are mammals , 257 aves , 34 reptiles and 13 amphibians . Notable animal species in

5427-407: The reserve there are forests of quaking aspen ( Populus tremuloides ), which are rare in Mexico. Malpai Borderlands Malpai Borderlands is a land area along the U.S.-Mexico border . It encompasses the southeast corner of Arizona and the southwest corner of New Mexico . It is sometimes defined as including areas in the Mexican states of Chihuahua and Sonora . The Malpai is part of

5508-485: The same as female cougars. Cougar coloring is plain (hence the Latin concolor ["one color"] in the scientific name) but can vary greatly across individuals and even siblings. The coat is typically tawny, but it ranges from silvery-grey to reddish with lighter patches on the underbody, including the jaws, chin, and throat. Infants are spotted and born with blue eyes and rings on their tails; juveniles are pale, and dark spots remain on their flanks. A leucistic individual

5589-431: The south, but this is rarely recorded in North America. Magellanic penguins ( Spheniscus magellanicus ) constitute the majority of prey items in cougar diet in Patagonia 's Bosques Petrificados de Jaramillo National Park and Monte León National Park . Although capable of sprinting, the cougar is typically an ambush predator . It stalks through brush and trees, across ledges, or other covered spots, before delivering

5670-499: The southwestern United States, they have been recorded to also prey on feral horses in the Great Basin , as well as feral donkeys in the Sonoran and Mojave Deserts . Investigations at Yellowstone National Park showed that elk and mule deer were the cougar's primary prey; the prey base is shared with the park's wolves , with which the cougar competes for resources. A study on winter kills from November to April in Alberta showed that ungulates accounted for greater than 99% of

5751-604: The species in general. Of this length, the tail typically accounts for 63 to 95 cm (25 to 37 in). Males generally weigh 53 to 72 kg (117 to 159 lb). Females typically weigh between 34 and 48 kg (75 and 106 lb). Cougar size is smallest close to the equator and larger towards the poles . The largest recorded cougar, shot in 1901, weighed 105.2 kg (232 lb); claims of 125.2 kg (276 lb) and 118 kg (260 lb) have been reported, though they were probably exaggerated. Male cougars in North America average 62 kg (137 lb), while

5832-650: The western United States . Further south, its range extends through Mexico to the Amazon Rainforest and the southern Andes Mountains in Patagonia . It is an adaptable generalist species , occurring in most American habitat types. It prefers habitats with dense underbrush and rocky areas for stalking but also lives in open areas. The cougar is largely solitary. Its activity pattern varies from diurnality and cathemerality to crepuscularity and nocturnality between protected and non-protected areas, and

5913-458: The western boundary of the Malpai. Elevations of the valleys range from about 3,700 ft (1,100 m) to 5,200 ft (1,600 m). The highest mountain in the region is Animas Peak with an elevation of 8,565 ft (2,611 m). The mountain ranges are called sky islands as they rise steeply above the desert valleys. The Sky Islands have cooler temperatures, receive greater precipitation, and have more diverse and abundant vegetation than

5994-405: The wild is reported at 8 to 13 years and probably averages 8 to 10; a female of at least 18 years was reported killed by hunters on Vancouver Island . Cougars may live as long as 20 years in captivity. Causes of death in the wild include disability and disease, competition with other cougars, starvation, accidents, and, where allowed, hunting. The feline immunodeficiency virus is well-adapted to

6075-422: Was founded in 1580 by Franciscan missionaries and a military garrison was established in 1686 to protect it from Apache raids . As a result of agrarian reform in the 1930s and 1940s, federal lands and cattle ranches that later became Janos were redistributed to the landless poor. In subsequent years, overgrazing and forestry companies significantly altered environmental conditions in the area, contributing to

6156-748: Was launched within the US, and reintroductions have been made among the US and Mexico. Janos Reserve was one of those sites for reintroductions in 2009. On 28 November 2009, twenty-three genetically pure American bison ( Bison bison ), including twenty females and three males, from the Wind Cave bison herd in South Dakota were released onto the Janos prairie. The new Janos Biopsphere Reserve bison herd adds to other Mexican bison that have ranged between Chihuahua, Mexico, and New Mexico, United States, since at least

6237-614: Was recorded in a palm oil plantation close to a riparian forest in the Llanos Basin , and close to water bodies in the Magdalena River Valley . In the human-modified landscape of central Argentina, it inhabits bushland with abundant vegetation cover and prey species. Cougars are an important keystone species in Western Hemisphere ecosystems, linking numerous species at many trophic levels. In

6318-579: Was reproduced in 1648 by his associate Willem Piso . Cuguacu ara was then adopted by John Ray in 1693. In 1774, Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon converted cuguacu ara to cuguar , which was later modified to "cougar" in English. The cougar holds the Guinness record for the animal with the greatest number of names, with over 40 in English alone. "Puma" is the common name used in Latin America and most parts of Europe. The term puma

6399-521: Was seen in Serra dos Órgãos National Park in Rio de Janeiro in 2013 when it was recorded by a camera trap, indicating that pure white individuals do exist within the species, though they are extremely rare. The cougar has large paws and proportionally the largest hind legs in the Felidae, allowing for great leaping and powerful short sprints. It can leap from the ground up to 5.5 m (18 ft) high into

6480-471: Was the scientific name proposed by Carl Linnaeus in 1771 for a cat with a long tail from Brazil. The specific epithet of the name, "concolor", is Latin for "of uniform color". It was placed in the genus Puma by William Jardine in 1834. This genus is part of the Felinae . The cougar is most closely related to the jaguarundi and the cheetah. Following Linnaeus's first scientific description of

6561-559: Was then repopulated by South American cougars . A coprolite identified as from a cougar was excavated in Argentina's Catamarca Province and dated to 17,002–16,573 years old. It contained Toxascaris leonina eggs. This finding indicates that the cougar and the parasite have existed in South America since at least the Late Pleistocene . The oldest fossil record of a cougar ( Puma concolor ) in South America (Argentina)

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