Click on the blue text to hear the Lion:lionsound Mountain Lions live here,
Mountain Lions live in San Diego County. Wherever you find plenty of deer, you can expect to find Mountain Lions. Mountain Lions are predators at the top of the food chain. Bobcats eat smaller fare: rabbits, squirrels, reptiles, birds. Bobcats are near the top of the food chain, but Mountain Lions sometimes eat them. Both require plenty of space to find enough prey. A healthy ecosystem supports healthy predators. Mountain Lions and Bobcats spend most of their time alone. Their population density is low, and solitary cats hunt alone. They spend only a few days with a mate, and single moms raise kittens. By and large, our local wild cats are loners.
People are pushing into wild cat habitat, and encounters with cats are becoming more frequent. Cats are hunters; awareness of their behavior will help prevent unhappy endings. Rugged terrain with woods or rocks are prime Mountain Lion habitat. Expert at stealth, Mountain Lions search for prey while hidden in the forest or along the edge of clearings. They stalk silently, then execute a surprise attack. They are most active at sunrise and sunset, but will hunt day or night.
Cougar (Puma concolor) The cat of many names, also called puma, mountain lion, panther, painter, catamount, American lion, deer tiger, brown tiger, and night screamer. The Florida panther and Eastern cougar of the United States are both Critically Endangered, all other subspecies are Least Concern. The Florida panther is down to 30-50 animals in southern Florida; one sub-population went extinct in 1991. They are threatened by physiological impairment ascribed to inbreeding depression and by road kill. Several Texas cougars were released in Florida in the past few years to augment this population.
The Eastern cougar, occasionally sighted in the Appalachians, New England, and Ontario, survives only in small numbers in highly fragmented ranges. West of the Rocky Mountains cougars are much more numerous, as their primary prey (deer) is also numerous. In the past FCC cooperated in breeding research programs investigating in-vitro fertilization, using cougars as the subjects. Fertilized embryos were successfully produced and implanted, although no live births resulted. This program is now suspended while new hormone drugs are developed (the females built up an immunity to the drugs used in previous studies to bring on ovulation, impairing the program's success
The lion is considered the "King of the Beasts". The average weight for males is 330-530 pounds, while it is 270-300 pounds for females. With the proud bearing and distinguishing mane of the male lion evoke an image of dominance. However, females are the ones that kill more often, catching more than three-fourths of the pride's prey. Even though lions are labelled the "King of the Beasts", no such thing really exists. Like other predators, the lion simply kills to survive. Being large and strong, the lion does an unusually good job of defending itself when necessary, but it is not particularly brave or magnaminimous. They air of strength is underlined by the lion's spectacular roaring.
While both males and females roar, only the male boasts the large golden and/or black ruff around its face. The mane seems to intimidate rivals and protects the neck during fights.
Even though the lion is considered the "King of the Beasts", it is not the largest of the big cats. The tiger is the largest feline on earth. The average weight for males is 400-600 pounds, while it is 160-370 pounds for females.
The tiger starts it day rising from rest in the afternoon and beginning its search for prey. If it spots prey, it begins to stalk, crouched low, eyes intent, until it has moved into position for attack. With a mighty bound, the tiger grabs the prey with its forepaws and drags its victim to the ground, then seizes its throat in a strangling grip. Once it has killed, the tiger drags the carcass to a secluded place where it will feed during the night. Usually it remains close to the kill, defending its prize from vultures, hyenas, and other scavengers. Depending on the size of the kill, it may last the cat for several days. If the tiger leaves the kill, it covers it with leaves and branches.
While deer and pig are favored prey, providing ample food for several days, the tiger will also eat many small animals, including monkeys, porcupines, rodents, reptiles, fish - in fact, almost anything that moves. Immensely powerful jaw muscles make the tiger's canine teeth deadly weapons that can crunch the vertebrae of large prey. The rear teeth crush bones and shear off lumps of meat, which are swallowed whole. The tiger eats until it fills its belly, for it may be days before the cat can kill large prey again.
Tigers usually hunt alone, with the principal social unit made up of the tigress and her cubs. The male is only present for mating. Tiger cubs begin to eat meat after about two months, but continue to suckle until about six months old. The tigress may give birth to four cubs, but usually only two survive. The cubs spend the next several months learning the techniques of stalking, attacking, and killing. At around 18 months, the cubs are almost fully grown, and start to drift away from the mother to find their own territory.
Tigers are normally associated with the forests, China) to the edge of the Artic Ocean (Siberia). Tigers still roam in the icy, snowbound forests of Siberia. With their thick fur and deep layer of insulating fat, these Siberian tigers are the largest of the tigers, exceeding 10 feet in length and sometimes weighing more than 700 pounds. Unlike most cats, tigers climb poorly, but they swim readily.
The Black Leopard is a melanistic form of the "spotted" Leopard. Though, if you look closely you will see that the Black Leopard has spots also. Its popular name is the "Black Panther" and its home territory is the jungle or rain forest. The Black and the "spotted" Leopard will be found together in shared territory along the rain forest perimeter. The "spotted" Asian Leopard is generally found in open terrain and grassland.
While most big cats have five times the strength pound per pound as a trained human athlete, the leopard and the jaguar have ten times the strength pound per pound. Jasmine, at 85 pounds, has 850 pounds of muscle strength. Leopards can lift three times their own weight with their mouth and drag it up a tree. They can jump 20 feet straight up and 35 straight out from a sitting position.
This is a jagundi found in NEW MEXICO and is being killed by hunters.
Cheetah (Acinonyx jubatis) (35K) In my humble opinion, the Cheetah is probably the most handsome and distinguished looking cat in existence. The distinctive 'tear stains' extending downward from each eye seem to give the Cheetah a unique and dignified look not seen in any other animal. The Cheetah has two other unique qualities that set it apart from all other animals - it is the fastest land animal in the world and it is the only cat that does not have sheaths to retract its claws into. Adults weight about 65 to 130 pounds (30 - 60 kg). They live primarily in Africa.
