Florida Puma: description and photo

The Florida puma, whose photo in front of you is a beautiful big cat, is called still a mountain lion, a red tiger, a panther or a cougar. These beautiful animals occupy a place of honor in tribal mythology, they are secretive and very intelligent. "Puma" in translation means "strong and powerful." Once cougars called the "royal cat", this name suits him completely. Only this life is very difficult for this beautiful animal. Now, on the verge of extinction, the Florida puma, the Red Book on its pages has already "settled" this beast. In ancient times, the wild cat lived everywhere - from the new England to the Rocky Mountains, I would like to now restore the population of the Florida puma.

Florida Puma: description

Puma is like a panther, only more graceful. She has a strong, flexible elongated body up to two meters long with a tail. The head is small, with small round ears, the fangs are large, like all predators, about four centimeters long. Paws wide, low and strong, with sharp retractable claws, which it can hide. The tail is powerful and muscular, about 30 cm long, with a small tassel at the end. The adult male weighs about 50-60 kg, the female - about 30-40 kg, there are some individuals reaching 100-105 kg.

The main coat color is yellowish-gray or yellowish-brown. The abdomen and chin are white, the tail is black. The ears are dark, there are black marks on the sides of the muzzle. The color of the cougar depends also on the place in which the animal lives. Northern representatives of this species are gray, pumas from tropical regions are red.

Lifestyle in the wild

The Florida puma lives both on the plains and in the mountains up to five thousand meters above sea level. In the second year of life, a wild cat becomes an adult and leaves the mother's domain. The young puma goes in search of his territory, it happens that for a new house you have to fight to the death in order to win your place in the wild. An adult mountain cat can own a territory of up to 1,300 square kilometers.

Cougar leads a solitary lifestyle, only in the mating season cats are encountered for the continuation of the genus. Puma is not a fan of running for long distances, as it exhales very quickly. Hunting mountain lion after dark, in the afternoon he prefers to sleep in the den and warm himself in the sun.

What does the puma eat?

The Florida puma hunts mainly on elks, deer and mountain rams. As a treat, a wild cat uses mice, squirrels, and rabbits. Cowboys, porcupines, muskrats, beavers, raccoons, armadillos can become the pumas. If food is not enough, then cougar visits farmers, attacking cattle and poultry.

If the victim of a mountain lion becomes a large animal such as an elk or a deer, the predator can eat this prey for a week. To do this, the puma properly masks the carcass of the killed animal so that it can not be found by other predators.

Reproduction

Florida Puma Is a cat, although wild, so that the estrus in females can begin at any time of the year. The initiative in the breeding season comes from the male. Having smelled the smell of a female ready for mating, it invades its possessions. If the "girl" "likes" the boy, she will not drive him away, and a couple of cats will live and hunt together for seven days. During the "honey" week, cougars can mate 60-70 times a day. At the end of the marriage period, the male leaves home, and the female remains to wait for the young to later grow them independently. In the world of cougars, family life and the upbringing of "male" babies do not apply.

Marriage games are arranged by those animals that have their own territory, the breeding season lasts from December to March. The female bore kittens about ninety-five days, at one time there are from two to six blind babies weighing about 400-500 grams. Ten days later, small pumas begin to see, their teeth are punched and ears open, they very quickly gain experience from their mother. At the age of 25-30 days the kittens come out of the lair under the leadership of an alert parent, mom-puma feeds the cubs with milk for up to three months. Milk mountain cats fat by six times higher than cow, so kids very quickly gain weight. Together with his mother, the youth lives about 20-26 months, then leaves to organize their life in a new place.

On the verge of extinction

To our great regret, in our time mountain lions are very, very few, the Florida puma Even got the name "ghost of the wild west", because it's almost impossible to see it in a natural environment. Cougar is a rare species of pumas, it is on the verge of extinction, although once these elegant animals inhabited the vast expanses of North America. Now wild cats live in very limited numbers in the forests and marshlands of Florida.

The reason for such a decline in the population of the Florida puma was the drainage of the marshes, where mostly prefer to inhabit the cougars. To this reason, pollution of the environment was added , and, of course, a man put his hand, as this beautiful animal is considered an object of sport hunting.

The Florida puma is the only subspecies of the cougar that has been given the status in the Red Book - "in critical condition"! People come to their senses and protect these beautiful animals, cougar included in the annex of the CITES Convention, which controls the trade in rare species of animals.

Florida Puma: Interesting Facts

The world of animals is very mysterious, you can learn about many of the interesting things about each of the animals. Puma is no exception, here are some interesting facts about this beautiful wild cat.

1. The Florida puma is a very patient animal. When the puma falls into the trap, it does not rush like a tiger, but tries coldly to find a way out to get free. Not finding an outlet, the cat falls into a kind of stupor and can sit without moving for several days.
2. At short distances, the cougar can reach speeds of up to fifty kilometers per hour.
3. The mountain lion can bounce to a height of more than six meters.
4. The Florida puma can kill prey, which weighs three times the weight of a predatory cat.
5. Cougar has very good eyesight.
6. In the mating season, pumas shriek.
7. Puma always hunts herself, she never consumes prey, which killed another beast.