The Andean Puma or the Puma Concolor is the largest of the small cat species. The first Spanish explorers of North and South America called it leon (lion) and gato monte (mountain cat), from which the name “mountain lion” is derived. “Puma” is the name given by the Incas.
They gave this cat their language. “Cougar” seems to come from an old South American native word, cuguacuarana, which was shortened to cuguar and later spelled differently. And “panther” is a general term for cats that have solid-colored coats, which is why it was used for both pumas and black jaguars.
They are solitary animals, they only come together for reproduction, they mark their territory with urine and feces, they can hunt both during the day and at night.
Habitat
A wide variety of habitats including montane coniferous forests, lowland tropical forests, grasslands, dry shrublands, swamps, and any area with adequate cover and dams.
Feeding
Large and small mammals such as camelids, rodents, lizards, primates, birds, and fish.
Threats
Mainly in South America, this species is in serious danger of extinction. In the same way, dogs are trained to hunt pumas in a very cruel way, since these canines are faced head-on. They may be attacked by other mountain lions, wolves, or bears when they are young or sick.
Curious Fact
The female in heat emits sounds that are responded to by the male in the same way at the same time that she smells his genital area. In an hour they can mate up to nine times, although this act lasts only less than a minute.
Species
The puma has different names depending on the different habitats in which it develops; It is possible to find it in mountainous deserts, forests, swamps, plains, even snow-capped mountains at almost 5,000 m of altitude, where footprints of its paws have been found.
It is distributed from Canada to the end of the Andes Mountains, being this last part where it has managed to develop and maintain itself the most.
South America is where more puma subspecies can be found. There is the puma concolor or puma from the north of South America, it lives in Venezuela, Colombia, Brazil, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Chile and Argentina; the puma concolor cabrerae or Argentine puma, is found in Bolivia, Paraguay and Argentina; the puma concolor anthonyi or puma of the East of South America, can be seen in Venezuela, Brazil, Paraguay, Argentina, Uruguay; and the puma concolor puma or southern South American puma, a subspecies found in Chile and Argentina, is the one that supports the lowest temperatures.