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Puma
THE PUMA - CAT OF ONE COLOUR (Puma concolor)
THE PUMA - CAT OF ONE COLOUR (Puma concolor)
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THE PUMA - CAT OF ONE COLOUR (Puma concolor)
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No matter which carnivore kills the elk, researchers agree that greater Yellowstone is a ruthless place where losers often pay the ultimate price. Last month, 14 wolves caught a female cougar out in the open skulking around one of their kills. The wolves killed the cougar, then found her kittens and killed them. The dead female had wolf hair in her teeth and claws.
"The wolves will wade into a situation and check it out, and if it goes well, they'll keep going," Smith said. Sometimes it works, but sometimes it does not. Smith saw a male grizzly drive a pack of wolves away from an elk carcass, then make a "king of the hill" defense as the wolves darted in and out, trying, but failing, to wear him out. But wolves do not always win. Males, at 125 pounds, can go after a 110-pound female cougar if they are in a pack, but a lone wolf is a bagatelle for a 160-pound male cougar. Smith has recorded two instances of cougars ambushing and killing single wolves — one an adult, the other a pup. https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/p...650cf0f4a/ Cougar and wolves battle in the Bitterroot There might be an unusual amount of wolf/mountain lion conflict along the Idaho-Montana border- Liz Bradley, a wolf manager for Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks has found an unusually high number of wolves killed by cougar in the Bitterroot Mountains near the Montana-Idaho border from Lolo on the north to near the Idaho border on the south. Note that the irregular state boundary jogs from n/s to e/w at the southern end of the Bitterroot Range. Her observation of this goes back to 2009 and is mostly based on radio collared wolves. Competition between the two large carnivores is well known. Numerous stories have been reported over the years in the northern rocky mountains. Studies in the Big Creek area of central Idaho showed that the wolf packs tended to push cougar out of the prime areas for their prey into the rough, less desirable country. The story is important because too many people believe that predation on deer and elk is strictly additive by each type of predator, but in fact the two compete. When you add bear to the mix things are even more complicated, and bear are usually present. Studies of what killed the elk in various parts of western Montana have, in fact, generally shown that wolves fall behind cougar and bear as the cause of predatory death. Wolf predation tends to cause a bigger stir among humans because it isn’t as quick as a cougar kill. There is more blood on ground and the wolves don’t bury their prey. Perry Backus in the Ravalli Republic (reproduced here in the Missoulian) gives the full story on the Bitterroot. http://www.thewildlifenews.com/2012/05/2...itterroot/ 
I would think that hiding a kill up in a tree would be desirable for Cougars but I'm sure many factors come into play that don't allow that evolutionary trait.
-Deep snow during the winter months make dragging prey across distances nearly impossible -Maybe the tree species isn't suitable to keeping prey suspended -Cougar Skull and Neck morphology (smaller and thinner than a leopard) doesn't lend itself well to the strain of larger prey pulling down on it while traveling up the tree.  (06-27-2018, 12:07 AM)Pckts Wrote: I would think that hiding a kill up in a tree would be desirable for Cougars but I'm sure many factors come into play that don't allow that evolutionary trait.Funny, I just had this discussion today with a Friend and said almost the same thing! The neck and skull of the cougar is probably to weak.
Skinny sick puma?
Pictures of a mysterious creature described as “half human, half animal” is doing rounds on social media after reports that it killed two dogs and terrorised residents of Santa Fe in Agentina. The creature’s shape is striking as it has not been connected with known animal. Residents reported that the unknown creature has been wandering the streets and has even slain two dogs. The photograph taken in the night and some were blurry has made rounds on social media to warn against the possible danger. An audio broadcast explained that the beast had squared off with pit-bull and a German Shepherd who lost the encounter and died, the creature subsequently vanished. Some locals likened the creature to a camel because of its long neck and small head. It was uploaded to the YouTube channel UFOmania, and has now been viewed more than 30,000 times.  *This image is copyright of its original author
#62 @Pckts
But pumas won't hoist their prey up trees even in places where there's no snow anyway, and they could hoist smaller prey; leopards not only cache big quarry. My two cents is that pumas in North America never faced as much competition from predators as fierce as leopards do. I'm guessing what pumas and wolves are going through has a human cause. #64 @AlexE Are you kidding me? That's the freaking werewolf from the Harry Potter movie! Clearly a hoax made with photoshop... People are SO gullible is shameful.  *This image is copyright of its original author
The puma that climbed atop a 35-foot-high (10.66 m) pole in Lucerne Valley, California, on Sept. 29, 2015. It descended at night, according to a witness.
 *This image is copyright of its original author
Manuscript - 'The mandibular muscles of Puma concolor'
Authors - Llanos RP - Andrade A - Ibiricus LM - Carrera M Publication - Acta Biologica Colombiana, Vol. 21, No. 3, Bogota, Sept-Dec 2016 Link - http://www.scielo.org.co/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0120-548X2016000300022
Puma hunting three-toed sloth. Clip from the Untamed Amazonia series, a french production that aired in the late 90's. I remember this show was the first wildlife documentary I watched that was narrated and portrayed in a more soap opera fashion. Sloths are strong.
(07-05-2018, 07:03 AM)Shir Babr Wrote: Puma hunting three-toed sloth. Clip from the Untamed Amazonia series, a french production that aired in the late 90's. I remember this show was the first wildlife documentary I watched that was narrated and portrayed in a more soap opera fashion. Sloths are strong. I saw that series as well. Back then, the natural world was considered a thing of beauty over here. Today, in between the countless commercials, I only see us. A long time ago, I visited Surinam, French Guyana and the northernmost corner of Brazil. In a remote place in the jungle, I met an old (Dutch) man who got his degree in Berlin during the Second World War, meaning the authorities were after him. In order to survive, he caught wild animals. He was real good at it. The cats I saw (jaguarundi, ocelot, puma and jaguar) had been caught only days before I arrived, meaning they were very wild at heart. Most of them were flown to the US. Although quite a bit smaller than the giants in Venezuela and southern Brazil, the jaguars I saw were very active. Not as fast as pumas, but more outgoing. The Indians I saw, told me they stayed clear of them. They had good reasons, but my experience was different. The island I visited in a large river had a jaguar. He didn't mind us staying for two nights, but on the third day he said it was time to move on. Surinam pumas more or less compared to those in Yucatan for size. They stayed away from humans. The trainers I interviewed said they were the most athletic of all cats. 
About #72: fascinating to see how the puma is storing impulse between each attempt of jumping and climbing, by marking its claws on the dead trunk...
Skull.
 *This image is copyright of its original author  *This image is copyright of its original author With bighorn ram.  *This image is copyright of its original author
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