THE PUMA - CAT OF ONE COLOUR (Puma concolor)

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Mountain Lion or Puma Cannibalism

Quote:“We’re still trying to get an official size and weight through the necropsy process,” she said. “That’s a tricky one for us in this particular instance because mountain lions do tend to exhibit cannibalistic behavior, and from the time the gentleman was attacked to when we got there, its body had already been fed on. So several of his organs and entrails were already gone.”

^ The juvenile mountain lion choked by the hiker that initially was famous was fed on by another Mountain Lion before the body could be properly analyzed.



Intraspecific killing, including cannibalism and predation of each other, is the leading cause of Mountain Lion fatality:

*This image is copyright of its original author

GALANTINE, S. P., AND P. K. SWIFT. 2007. Instraspecific killing among mountain lions (Puma concolor). Southwestern Naturalist 52:161–164 (from JSTOR)

Quote:Pumas fell victim to infanticide, cannibalism, ungulate counterattacks, snakebites, electrocution, and plague.

LOGAN, K. A., AND L. L. SWEANOR. 2001. Desert puma:evolutionary ecology and conservation of an enduring carnivore. Island Press, Washington, D.C.

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A female Mountain Lion killed  and partially consumed by a male.

Further Info:



"F51, an adult female mountain lion currently tracked by Panthera’s Teton Cougar Project, meandered towards the eastern edge of her range, her two female offspring bouncing like electrons in orbit around her. Who can say what a mountain lion thinks, but from our perspective, life seemed good for F51. The family had fed off a series of elk in quick succession, and then successfully dodged the local wolf pack that stole her last kill from them. Her kittens were fat, healthy and growing fast. How quickly things can change.

M85, an adult male also tracked by the project, sat on his kill at the base of spectacular red cliffs, content to move little and eat more. He heard F51’s approach—he likely heard the kittens—as she dropped through a narrow cleft in the rocks above his position, and he set out to intercept them. This much was clear, written out in the snow, but the next part involves some speculation.

Perhaps M85 approached aggressively, or perhaps F51’s kittens were exposed in front of her, but whatever the scenario, she engaged him. The pair met in a storm of claws and fury, packing the snow as they rolled and wrestled. They slid down the hill about 15 feet, packing another circle of snow and leaving behind great tufts of fur. Down they slid even further, to tumble and roll yet again, the first sprinkles of blood shining ruby red on the untouched snow.Then there was a last great tumble, the pair locked tooth and claw as they slid fast and slammed into a young fir tree; the lowermost branches were snapped off in the violence. Blood and fur soaked and covered the area at the base of the trunk, where they lay long enough that their entwined bodies melted into the snow. And then she was dead, this magnificent animal, this mother of two.


M85 dragged her another 20 feet before he left her. He returned to feed lightly from her carcass, but shortly after, abandoned the area completely. The kittens fled at the first signs of trouble, but are still hanging about the area, now four days later. At seven months old and without a mother, their futures are uncertain, if not bleak. Kittens typically need to be older than a year in order to survive on their own."


https://blog.nationalgeographic.org/2014/04/07/why-do-adult-cougars-kill-each-other/ Reply