Also called cougars, pumas, panthers, and catamounts, mountain lions are quick, highly effective, and mysterious predators. Huge paws, sharp enamel, and the reflexes of a cat are certainly sufficient to strike worry into the guts of a hiker, however like many wild creatures, from moose to bears, cougars are misunderstood.
Why? Most likely due to how little the common open air individual is aware of about these animals and the way they’re portrayed in trendy media, explains Mat Alldredge, a mammals researcher for Colorado Parks and Wildlife who makes a speciality of carnivores like mountain lions. And due to Alldredge’s practically 18 years of catching, tagging, and researching animals, together with finding out cougar-human interactions, there are many misconceptions he’d wish to appropriate about these majestic animals.
Listed here are only a few.
Fantasy #1: Mountain lions will stalk people as prey.
You will have heard stories and even seen movies of mountain lions following hikers down a path, stalking them, seemingly able to pounce for his or her dinner. And whereas that’s definitely a terrifying state of affairs to contemplate, and it’s not completely a fable (cougars might very properly comply with hikers), the act is most frequently out of curiosity, not as a consequence of predatory habits.
“Any shut encounter with a cougar is sure to be scary,” Alldredeg says. “However that’s not how mountain lions hunt.” Quite the opposite, in case you spot a cougar following you, he says, chances are high, the animal is simply curious.
When a mountain lion is definitely on the hunt, you received’t see it. That’s as a result of the cougar will spot its prey from a distance, discover a good hiding spot the place it waits for its potential dinner—often a deer or different fleshy animal—to stroll proper in entrance of the cat, permitting it to strike with spectacular pace and obtain the ingredient of shock.
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Fantasy #2: Mountain lions are aggressive.
Mountain lions, very similar to different wild carnivores—together with wolves—are sometimes seen as aggressive animals ready to lash out at people who dare to wander into their territory. Nevertheless, “aggressive” isn’t the fitting phrase.
Cougars will be protecting, particularly in the event that they’re accompanied by kittens or are defending a latest kill that simply occurs to be close by. Mountain lions kill, then cache their meals, feeding off of it for days. In the event that they really feel like somebody or one thing is threatening that hard-earned meal, they’ll shield it.
That mentioned, so long as a mountain lion hears you coming, chances are high it’s going to take off or take cowl, and also you’ll by no means understand it was ever there.
“[Mountain lions] don’t need that battle,” Alldredge says. He says primarily based on his analysis and observations, you’re most in peril in case you shock a cougar or make it really feel cornered with no option to escape. By no means attempt to sneak up on a wild animal.
Fantasy #3: Mountain lion populations are rising dangerously massive.
The North American cougar inhabitants is rising, and that’s a very good factor, Alldredge explains. When settlers first got here to North America, mountain lions lived coast to coast—from north to south and from east to west. As settlers pushed west, cougars turned a menace to their livestock and, thus, their livelihood. So the vast majority of the cougar inhabitants east of the Rockies was successfully worn out by people to neutralize this menace.
Over the past 5 a long time or so, states have begun defending the animal and its habitat, which has led to a more healthy and extra wide-spread inhabitants of mountain lions within the U.S., which now extends into Nebraska and the Dakotas. These animals assist convey stability and biodiversity again to areas they as soon as roamed.
In the meantime, city sprawl is creeping farther into the territory of untamed animals, resulting in extra recorded encounters on cell telephones and doorbell cams, which can lead individuals to imagine there are extra mountain lions than ever, when, in actuality, we simply didn’t know they had been there earlier than.
Fantasy #4: There’s no option to shield your self from a mountain lion encounter.
Thankfully, there are many methods to stop an encounter with a mountain lion and to guard your self if one pounces at you. Begin by conserving kids shut when climbing in cougar nation and conserving canine on a brief leash, so neither you nor your pets or kids startle a cougar simply across the bend.
Subsequent, in case you see one, don’t panic. Make your self look huge by opening your coat or elevating your arms. Typical knowledge says to be loud, however animals can sense worry, Alldredge says, so in case you’re yelling in a high-pitched, shaky voice, it’s possible you’ll sound extra like a dying rabbit than an precise menace.
As a substitute, speak confidently, even calmly, and if it doesn’t flip tail and go, begin throwing issues like rocks or sticks . . . or possibly even your mobile phone, which might be a greater use for it than taking a video. Don’t throw your backpack, although, which you should use to assist shield your vitals if the animal does lunge.
Don’t run. Operating alerts to a mountain lion that you simply’re prey, so as an alternative, again away slowly. If it nonetheless pounces, battle again utilizing rocks, your fists, trekking poles, or the rest at your disposal.
Youngsters and canine are extra weak to a mountain lion assault as a consequence of their small measurement, high-pitched noises, and darting actions that resemble that of prey. Subsequently, in case you see a cougar, decide up your kids or pet earlier than assuming your intimidating pose. Hold them from working forward of you on the path and think about outfitting canine with bear bells to scare off animals earlier than you get there.
Unwelcome encounters with mountain lions are uncommon, and fatalities are even rarer. Simply 17 deadly encounters with cougars have been reported in all of North America for the reason that Seventies. And most run-ins with the animals finish with nobody getting harm. Nevertheless, that doesn’t imply it is best to let down your guard. Keep vigilant and at all times be ready when climbing in mountain lion territory.
