The cougar
PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS
The cougar is coloured in tons fawn-coloured with the end of the ears and the tail blacks. It can run up to 50 km/h, cross up to 6 m of a jump starting from a fixed point and jump up to 2.50 m in height. The power of its jaws is larger than any dog. The cougar, also called the "mountains lion", has retractile claws and 4 fingers.
The adult males measure more than 2 m length and weigh approximately 70 kg. The females measure 2 m and weigh approximately 35 kg. The pumas cubs have blackheads or chestnut and rings around the ears. In its natural environment, a cougar saw approximately 10 years whereas in captivity it can live up to 25 years.
The pumas living close to the equator are smaller and their weaker population. The size of the populations increase as one approaches the geographical poles.
DISTRIBUTION
It is most widespread of all the felids of the new world. One finds the cougar in the west of Canada and in the United States like in each continental country of South America and power station except, undoubtedly, of Uruguay. It was eliminated from the major part of the east of Canada and, except for the few individuals dispersed in Florida, of the center and the east of the United States, it hardly any more remains of pumas living in freedom in these sectors. However it is still not known if its some specimens met are captive animals which would be escaped or if they are survivors of the pumas of the east.
The cougar live in very diverse habitats. The semi-desert areas, the tropical rain forests, the forests of pines, the jungles marshy, the meadows and the bush are their principal surfaces of distributions. They are found sea level up to 5 900 m of altitude in the Andes, the altitude highest ever reached by felid. They prefer the dense vegetation but can live in areas with the more scattered vegetation where the possibilities of sheltering are rarer. One even announced some in the areas of intensive agriculture.
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