Wordless Wednesday: The Magnificent, Majestic Puma Concolor

The puma, also known as the mountain lion, cougar, screamer, panther, catamount, suçuarana, pangui, American lion and dozens of other names, looks like a big cat but is genetically closer to our domestic Feline friends.

Credit: Merazonia Animal Refuge of Ecuador
Credit: Wikimedia Commons
Credit: Elizabeth Lucas
Credit: Wikimedia Commons
Credit: Wikimedia Commons
Credit: Wikimedia Commons

Click images for full high resolution versions. Baby puma image credit Elizabeth Lucas. Prints available here.

13 thoughts on “Wordless Wednesday: The Magnificent, Majestic Puma Concolor”

  3. We made over 20 wildlife viewing trips to north America, as well as a couple in areas of South and Central America, and one of my biggest regrets is that we never once saw a puma. I guess this reflects both their scarcity and their wariness of our species, many of whom seem hell-bent wiping every other predator from the face of the Earth.

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    1. They’re pretty much relegated to the west, midwest and small pockets of the east, like Florida and Louisiana.

      In places like California their range has been carved up by superhighways, so unfortunately a lot of them die young as they travel to find their own ranges.

      That’s part of what made P-22, the Los Angeles puma, so extraordinary. He successfully crossed several of the busiest highways on Earth, made it all the way from San Francisco to LA, and claimed LA’s Griffith Park as his home. Then he lived there for 10 years, not bothering people while the locals loved him and protected him. People loved catching glimpses of him on morning jogs or on their doorbell cameras. They even had an annual music festival in his honor.

      And then there’s our uniquely American form of stupidity, combining absolute ignorance of animals with the attitude “When in doubt, shoot it.” Part of P22’s legacy is that he inspired books, documentaries and education efforts to inform people that pumas are not like African lions, regardless of their physical similarities, and won’t bother us. There have been 27 people killed by pumas in more than a century in the US, and I’m willing to bet all, or almost all, were situations where people knowingly or unknowingly threatened their cubs.

      Still, practically any time there’s a “problem” involving animals in this country, there are people whose first and most enthusiastic solution is to shoot the animals. And I put “problem” in quotes because often, the complaint is absurd, like “They’re eating deer!” Yes. They’re large obligate carnivores. Do people think they have grocery stores or something?

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      1. Ramses sometimes appears in my dreams. Dreams with cats or about cats are positive, unless one is frightened of cats or doesn’t like cats. I love cat dreams.

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  6. They are beautiful. I love the picture of the golden one hugging the tree. I’m not going to tell my cats they’re related. They’re spoiled enough as it is.

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