Puma
aka cougar, mountain lion, panther, and more
Puma concolor

Silent and elusive, pumas are rare in Minnesota; few Minnesotans have ever seen these large cats in the wild. Although they usually avoid humans, you wouldn’t want to come close to this large predator. Instead, keep an eye out for signs of their presence such as tracks and scat.

What They Eat
Pumas eat a wide range of medium and large-sized animals, from rabbits to deer. They silently stalk their prey before chasing, leaping, and delivering a suffocating bite to the neck.

Where They Live
Pumas can live wherever their main prey-deer-roam. They range across the Americas, from Canada down to the tip of South America.

What They Do
These large cats spend most of their time following deer. Speedy and large-at up to and over 200 pounds-pumas can tackle a healthy deer by themselves. Except for mothers and their kittens, adult pumas live alone only meeting up to mate.

How They’re Doing
Puma habitat and prey are returning, so conditions are right for their numbers to climb. The puma is protected in Minnesota and across much of their range.

Puma

Probably due to their wide range across North and South America, pumas hold the Guinness record for the animal with the most names. In the English language alone they have over 40!

Pumas can run up to 43 mph, jump more than 20 feet from standing, and leap up to 16 feet straight up. One was even seen jumping 12 feet into a tree with a deer in its jaws.

Although pumas can make a wide range of cat noises (hisses, growls, purrs), they cannot roar. Instead, they are well known for their distinctive “screams.”

Pumas are excellent swimmers, but like most cats, prefer not to get wet.

Puma

Care at the Zoo

In the wild, pumas spend a large part of their time stalking, killing, and consuming their prey. These activities involve chewing, pouncing, chasing, leaping, tugging, dragging, and burying objects. Here at the Minnesota Zoo, keepers have designed enrichment activities that give pumas the opportunity to express these natural behaviors and help enhance their physical and psychological well-being.

Predatory/Feeding Behavior

Pumas’ zoo diet includes meat and bone. Occasionally keepers offer pumas “whole prey” such as a dead rat, rabbit, or chicken. This allows them the opportunity to eat something with fur or feathers like they might in the wild.

Big cats like pumas don’t just eat small prey, so the Minnesota Zoo has developed a carcass feeding program. Staff process road-killed deer and feed them parts of the carcasses. To give pumas an extra challenge the items might be hung with a bungee. The added springing action simulates having to tug at their prey, haul it away, or keep hold of it while it struggles to get away. Hiding food in brush piles, under logs, or high in trees encourages exploration and foraging.

Wild pumas do not always consume all of their prey and must protect it from being stolen of scavenged. Hauling a carcass up a tree or burying it can keep it from being taken by would-be thieves in the wild.

In the wild, pumas live a feast and famine existence. They gorge themselves on a fresh kill; instinctively knowing it may be days before another successful hunt. To mimic this natural feeding cycle, keepers occasionally give the cats fleshy bones instead of a larger meal. This encourages natural crushing and tearing behaviors, and helps clean their teeth.

Training

Training provides mental stimulation for the pumas and helps to reduce stress associated with moves or vet check-ups. Using a whistle and gobs of raw meat for positive reinforcement, keepers can train the cats to cooperate in their own care, such as going on a scale for weighing. In addition to lessening stress during procedures, training pumas to cooperate in their own care provides them with an opportunity to exercise their minds as well as their bodies.

Puma

Pumas are the largest wild cats in North America. Their coats are grayish-brown to reddish-brown in color except for the black tip on their tail and on the backs of their ears. With large paws, sharp claws, and long, muscular hind legs, pumas are powerfully built. A flexible spine gives them speed and maneuverability by allowing them to change directions quickly while running. Their long tail is about 1/3 the length of their body and held close to the ground when walking.

Range and Habitat
Originally, pumas were found throughout North and South America. Now they are restricted to western Canada, the western United States, and South America along with the endangered Florida panther. This cat was probably never common in Minnesota, but may have ranged freely over most of the state before it was settled. Endangered throughout most of their range, pumas now live in the remotest possible areas. Their habitats vary from northern woods to tropical rainforests. In North America, they inhabit rocky terrain with shrubby growth.

Habits and Adaptations
Pumas may be active during the day or at night. Individuals maintain a large territory-up to 200 square miles. Solitary and docile by nature, they mark a territory well, but do not defend it. Pumas migrate in severe winters. Their only real enemy is wolves, which are avoided by climbing trees. They are excellent jumpers, and often jump out of trees rather than climbing down.

Diet
Pumas are carnivores and will prey on any mammal in their territory, but they prefer deer. Prey is stalked or pounced on from trees or overhanging rocks, then killed with a swift bite delivered to the neck. Large kills are often taken to a preferred spot, covered with brush, and fed on over a period of days.

Reproduction
These wild cats are not bound to a breeding season, but in North America most cubs are born in summer. The females stay in heat for 9-14 days. Following a gestation of 88-97 days, 1-6 cubs are born. Newborn pumas are 10-12 inches long and weigh about a pound. The young nurse for 5-6 weeks and eat solid food caught by the mother. After about one year, they strike out on their own. Most females in the wild give birth only once every two years.