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Scientific Name - Felis Concolor

The cougar is the largest of the lesser cats weighing between 100 - 200 pounds.  It is a large and powerful cat with a graceful and narrow body and exceptionally strong legs.  It is the champion jumper among cats, able to execute a 30 ft standing broad jump or an 18 ft jump straight up the face of a cliff.  Its head is small, with small rounded ears.  Despite its size, it is a lesser cat and cannot roar.  Its coat is a uniform tawny colour with lighter under-parts and white on the chin and throat. The cougar was, until recently, found in all parts of North and South America except the arctic, but is rapidly vanishing from large portions of the US and Canada.  It si strongly territorial, claiming an exceptionally wide range, and is solitary even by cat standards, avoiding its own kind except to mate.  It hunts by day, primarily from the ground, but ocassionally from high rocks, low cliffs or trees, and seeks deer, sheep, goats, piccary, capybara and other similarly-sized game.  It will ocassionally stalk livestock when other prey is scarce.

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