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91-476: Synaphea is a genus of small shrubs and is endemic to Western Australia. Synapheas have variably shaped leaves but consistently yellow flowers with an unusual pollination mechanism. Plants in the genus Synaphea are small shrubs, usually with deeply lobed ( pinnatipartite ) leaves, although some have simple leaves, others pinnate leaves, and have a petiole with a sheathing base. The flowers are relatively small, bright yellow, usually unscented, and arranged in

182-556: A cave environment limits an organism's ability to disperse, since caves are often not connected to each other. One hypothesis for how closely related troglobite species could become isolated from one another in different caves is that their common ancestor may have been less restricted to cave habitats. When climate conditions became unfavorable, the ancestral species was extirpated from the surface, but some populations survived in caves, and diverged into different species due to lack of gene flow between them. Isolated islands commonly develop

273-454: 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

364-504: A connection between a sterile anther and the stigma. The following is a list of formally named Synaphea species and subspecies accepted by the Australian Plant Census as at April 2020: The genus is endemic to Western Australia. Endemism Endemism is an important concept in conservation biology for measuring biodiversity in a particular place and evaluating the risk of extinction for species. Endemism

455-478: A euendemic the vicariance was geologic in nature, such as the movement of tectonic plates, but in a cryptoendemic the disjunct distribution was due to the extinction of the intervening populations. There is yet another possible situation that can cause a disjunct distribution, where a species is able to colonize new territories by crossing over areas of unsuitable habitat, such as plants colonizing an island – this situation they dismiss as extremely rare and do not devise

546-565: 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

637-766: 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

728-484: 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

819-402: A holoendemic is a cosmopolitan species. Stenoendemics, also known as local endemics, have a reduced distribution and are synonymous with the word 'endemics' in the traditional sense, whereas euryendemics have a larger distribution -both these have distributions that are more or less continuous. A rhoendemic has a disjunct distribution . Where this disjunct distribution is caused by vicariance, in

910-468: 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

1001-517: 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

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1092-437: A limited range. Paleoendemism is more or less synonymous with the concept of a ' relict species ': a population or taxon of organisms that were more widespread or more diverse in the past. A 'relictual population' is a population that currently occurs in a restricted area, but whose original range was far wider during a previous geologic epoch . Similarly, a 'relictual taxon' is a taxon (e.g. species or other lineage) that

1183-513: A much larger area, but died out in most of their range, are called paleoendemic , in contrast to neoendemic species, which are new species that have not dispersed beyond their range. The ginkgo tree, Ginkgo biloba , is one example of a paleoendemic species. In many cases biological factors, such as low rates of dispersal or returning to the spawning area ( philopatry ), can cause a particular group of organisms to have high speciation rates and thus many endemic species. For example, cichlids in

1274-522: A name for. Traditionally, none of Myers and de Grave's categories would be considered endemics except stenoendemics. Some environments are particularly conducive to the development of endemic species, either because they allow the persistence of relict taxa that were extirpated elsewhere, or because they provide mechanisms for isolation and opportunities to fill new niches. Serpentine soils act as ' edaphic islands' of low fertility and these soils lead to high rates of endemism. These soils are found in

1365-465: A number of endemics. Many species and other higher taxonomic groups exist in very small terrestrial or aquatic islands, which restrict their distribution. The Devil's Hole pupfish, Cyprinodon diabolis , has its whole native population restricted to a spring that is 20 x 3 meters, in Nevada 's Mojave Desert . This 'aquatic island' is connected to an underground basin; however, the population present in

1456-573: A pollinator, ejecting the pollen . The fruit is a hard-shelled nut, but in most species seed set is low. The genus Synaphea was first formally described in 1810 by Robert Brown in Transactions of the Linnean Society of London . The first species Brown described was Synaphea favosa and it is therefore the type species. The name Synaphea is from the ancient Greek word synaphe meaning "a connection" or "a union", referring to

1547-424: 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

1638-405: A species that is endemic is "precinctive", which applies to species (and other taxonomic levels) that are restricted to a defined geographical area. Other terms that sometimes are used interchangeably, but less often, include autochthonal, autochthonic, and indigenous; however, these terms do not reflect the status of a species that specifically belongs only to a determined place. The word endemic

1729-549: A spike in leaf axils or on the ends of branchlets. The perianth is tube-shaped and zygomorphic , the tube opening in the upper third to half. As in many other members of the Proteaceae, the male anthers and female style are initially in contact and the end of the style is a pollen presenter . In synapheas (and in Conospermum ), the anthers and stigma are held together under tension and only separate when touched by

1820-873: 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

1911-504: A very restrictive range, due to the unique environmental characteristics. The Kula Volcano , one of the fourteen volcanoes in Turkey , is home to 13 endemic species of plants. Endemics might more easily become endangered or extinct because they are already restricted in distribution. This puts endemic plants and animals at greater risk than widespread species during the rapid climate change of this century. Some scientists claim that

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2002-625: A wide variety of evolutionary histories, so researchers often use more specialized terms that categorize endemic species based upon how they came to be endemic to an area. Different categorizations of endemism also capture the uniqueness and irreplaceability of biodiversity hotspots differently and impact how those hotspots are defined, affecting how resources for conservation are allocated. The first subcategories were first introduced by Claude P. E. Favager and Juliette Contandriopoulis in 1961: schizoendemics, apoendemics and patroendemics. Using this work, Ledyard Stebbins and Jack Major then introduced

2093-437: A wider distributed taxon that has become reproductively isolated without becoming (potentially) genetically isolated – a schizoendemic has the same chromosome count as the parent taxon it evolved from. An apoendemic is a polyploid of the parent taxon (or taxa in the case of allopolyploids ), whereas a patroendemic has a lower, diploid chromosome count than the related, more widely distributed polyploid taxon. Mikio Ono coined

2184-467: 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

2275-473: 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

2366-413: 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

2457-559: 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

2548-457: Is also of interest in evolutionary biology , because it provides clues about how changes in the environment cause species to undergo range shifts (potentially expanding their range into a larger area, or becoming extirpated from an area they once lived), go extinct, or diversify into more species. The extreme opposite of an endemic species is one with a cosmopolitan distribution , having a global or widespread range. A rare alternative term for

2639-596: 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

2730-400: 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

2821-560: 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

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2912-487: Is endemic to Earth. However, endemism is normally used only when a species has a relatively small or restricted range. This usage of "endemic" contrasts with "cosmopolitan." Endemics are not necessarily rare; some might be common where they occur. Likewise, not all rare species are endemics; some may have a large range but be rare throughout this range. The evolutionary history of a species can lead to endemism in multiple ways. Allopatric speciation , or geographic speciation,

3003-414: Is from Neo-Latin endēmicus , from Greek ἔνδημος, éndēmos , "native". Endēmos is formed of en meaning "in", and dēmos meaning "the people". The word entered the English language as a loan word from French endémique , and originally seems to have been used in the sense of diseases that occur at a constant amount in a country, as opposed to epidemic diseases, which are exploding in cases. The word

3094-403: 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

3185-664: 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

3276-565: 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

3367-650: 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,

3458-434: Is only possible where 1.) the taxonomy of the species in question is not in dispute; 2.) the species distribution is accurately known; and 3.) the species have relatively small distributional ranges. In a 2000 article, Myers et al . used the standard of having more than 0.5% of the world's plant species being endemic to the region to designate 25 geographical areas of the world as biodiversity hotspots . In response to

3549-507: 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

3640-618: Is the sole surviving representative of a formerly diverse group. The concept of phylogenetic endemism has also been used to measure the relative uniqueness of the species endemic to an area. In measurements that incorporate phylogenetic endemism, branches of the evolutionary tree are weighted by how narrowly they are distributed. This captures not only the total number of taxa endemic to the area (taxonomic endemism), but also how distant those species are from their living relatives. Schizoendemics, apoendemics and patroendemics can all be classified as types of neoendemics. Schizoendemics arise from

3731-718: Is when two populations of a species become geographically separated from each other and as a result develop into different species. In isolated areas where there is little possibility for organisms to disperse to new places, or to receive new gene flow from outside, the rate of endemism is particularly high. For example, many endemic species are found on remote islands , such as Hawaii , the Galápagos Islands and Socotra . Populations on an island are isolated, with little opportunity to interbreed with outside populations, which eventually causes reproductive isolation and separation into different species. Darwin's finches in

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3822-703: 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

3913-598: 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

4004-460: 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

4095-820: 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

4186-884: 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

4277-618: 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

4368-590: 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

4459-901: The Balkan Peninsula, Turkey, Alps, Cuba, New Caledonia, South Africa, Zimbabwe, the North American Appalachians, and scattered distribution in California, Oregon, and Washington and elsewhere. For example, Mayer and Soltis considered the widespread subspecies Streptanthus glandulosus subsp. glandulosus which grows on normal soils, to be a paleoendemic, whereas closely related endemic forms of S. glandulosus occurring on serpentine soil patches are neoendemics which recently evolved from subsp. glandulosus . Obligate cave-dwelling species, known as troglobites, are often endemic to small areas, even to single individual caves, because cave habitats are by nature restricted, isolated, and fragmented. A high level of adaptation to

4550-571: The East African Rift Lakes have diversified into many more endemic species than the other fish families in the same lakes, possibly due to such factors. Plants that become endemic on isolated islands are often those which have a high rate of dispersal and are able to reach such islands by being dispersed by birds. While birds are less likely to be endemic to a region based on their ability to disperse via flight, there are over 2,500 species which are considered endemic, meaning that

4641-756: The Galápagos archipelago are examples of species endemic to islands. Similarly, isolated mountainous regions like the Ethiopian Highlands , or large bodies of water far from other lakes, like Lake Baikal , can also have high rates of endemism. Endemism can also be created in areas which act as refuges for species during times of climate change like ice ages . These changes may have caused species to become repeatedly restricted to regions with unusually stable climate conditions, leading to high concentrations of endemic species in areas resistant to climate fluctuations. Endemic species that used to exist in

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4732-466: 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

4823-546: The above, the World Wildlife Fund has split the world into a few hundred geographical ' ecoregions '. These have been designed to include as many species as possible that only occur in a single ecoregion, and these species are thus 'endemics' to these ecoregions. Since plenty of these ecoregions have a high prevalence of endemics existing within them, many National Parks have been formed around or within them to further promote conservation. The Caparaó National Park

4914-552: 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

5005-907: 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

5096-736: 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

5187-539: 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

5278-434: 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

5369-557: 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

5460-716: The concept by using WWF ecoregions and reptiles, finding that most reptile endemics occur in WWF ecoregions with high biodiversity. Other conservation efforts for endemics include keeping captive and semi-captive populations in zoological parks and botanical gardens. These methods are ex situ ("off-site") conservation methods. The use of such methods may not only offer refuge and protection for individuals of declining or vulnerable populations, but it may also allow biologists valuable opportunities to research them as well. Cougar Also see text The cougar ( Puma concolor ) ( / ˈ k uː ɡ ər / , KOO-gər ), also known as

5551-583: The concept. In their view, everything is endemic, even cosmopolitan species are endemic to Earth, and earlier definitions restricting endemics to specific locations are wrong. Thus the subdivisions neoendemics and paleoendemics are without merit regarding the study of distributions, because these concepts consider that an endemic has a distribution limited to one place. Instead, they propose four different categories: holoendemics, euryendemics, stenoendemics and rhoendemics. In their scheme cryptoendemics and euendemics are further subdivisions of rhoendemics. In their view,

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5642-518: The concepts of neoendemics and paleoendemics in 1965 to describe the endemics of California. Endemic taxa can also be classified into autochthonous, allochthonous, taxonomic relicts and biogeographic relicts. Paleoendemism refers to species that were formerly widespread but are now restricted to a smaller area. Neoendemism refers to species that have recently arisen, such as through divergence and reproductive isolation or through hybridization and polyploidy in plants, and have not dispersed beyond

5733-609: The cool climates of mountain peaks are geographically isolated. For example, in the Alpes-Maritimes department of France, Saxifraga florulenta is an endemic plant that may have evolved in the Late Miocene and could have once been widespread across the Mediterranean Basin . Volcanoes also tend to harbor a number of endemic species. Plants on volcanoes tend to fill a specialized ecological niche , with

5824-511: 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

5915-431: 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,

6006-424: 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

6097-659: 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,

6188-863: 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,

6279-429: 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

6370-429: 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

6461-464: 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

6552-442: 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

6643-677: The pool remains isolated. Other areas very similar to the Galapagos Islands of the Pacific Ocean exist and foster high rates of endemism. The Socotra Archipelago of Yemen, located in the Indian Ocean, has seen a new endemic species of parasitic leech, Myxobdella socotrensis, appear. This species is restricted to freshwater springs, where it may attach to and feed upon native crabs. Mountains can be seen as ' sky islands ': refugia of endemics because species that live in

6734-404: The presence of endemic species in an area is a good method to find geographical regions that can be considered priorities for conservation. Endemism can thus be studied as a proxy for measuring biodiversity of a region. The concept of finding endemic species that occur in the same region to designate 'endemism hotspots' was first proposed by Paul Müller in a 1973 book. According to him, this

6825-537: 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

6916-487: 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

7007-666: 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

7098-604: 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

7189-484: The species is restricted to an area less than five million hectares (twelve million acres). Microorganisms were traditionally not believed to form endemics. The hypothesis 'everything is everywhere', first stated in Dutch by Lourens G.M. Baas Becking in 1934, describes the theory that the distribution of organisms smaller than 2 mm is cosmopolitan where habitats occur that support their growth. Endemism can reflect

7280-424: The term 'aneuendemics' in 1991 for species that have more or fewer chromosomes than their relatives due to aneuploidy . Pseudoendemics are taxa that have possibly recently evolved from a mutation. Holoendemics is a concept introduced by Richardson in 1978 to describe taxa that have remained endemic to a restricted distribution for a very long time. In a 2000 paper, Myers and de Grave further attempted to redefine

7371-572: The threatened nature of a geographic region. A similar pattern had been found regarding mammals, Lasioglossum bees, Plusiinae moths, and swallowtail butterflies in North America: these different groups of taxa did not correlate geographically with each other regarding endemism and species richness. Especially using mammals as flagship species proved to be a poor system of identifying and protecting areas of high invertebrate biodiversity. In response to this, other scientists again defended

7462-594: 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

7553-405: 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

7644-462: Was first used in botany by Vaughan MacCaughey in Hawaii in 1917. A species is considered to be endemic to the area where it is found naturally, to the exclusion of other areas; presence in captivity or botanical gardens does not disqualify a species from being endemic. In theory, the term "endemic" could be applied on any scale; for example, the cougar is endemic to the Americas, and all known life

7735-513: Was formed in the Atlantic Forest , a biodiversity hotspot located in Brazil, in order to help protect valuable and vulnerable species. Other scientists have argued that endemism is not an appropriate measure of biodiversity, because the levels of threat or biodiversity are not actually correlated to areas of high endemism. When using bird species as an example, it was found that only 2.5% of biodiversity hotspots correlate with endemism and

7826-614: 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

7917-579: 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

8008-521: 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

8099-471: 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

8190-559: 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)

8281-469: Was used in biology in 1872 to mean a species restricted to a specific location by Charles Darwin . The less common term 'precinctive' has been used by some entomologists as the equivalent of 'endemic'. Precinctive was coined in 1900 by David Sharp when describing the Hawaiian insects, as he was uncomfortable with the fact that the word ' endemic ' is often associated with diseases. 'Precinctive'

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