Welcome back to another exciting week of Wild Facts.  I don’t have a whole lot of introductory small talk today so I figure we should jump right into today’s fact.  We are going to talk about the largest cat species in North America.  That’s right, we are talking about the panther.  Now I am sure some of you are saying “Whoa!  Wait a minute! I thought the Cougar was the largest cat species in North America” while others are saying “Whoa! Wait a minute! I thought the Mountain Lion was the largest cat species in North America”.  All of you would actually be right since the Cougar, Mountain Lion Panther and even the Puma are all the same animal (Felis concolor).  They just have many names depending where you happen to live.  I have always known them as cougars but if you lived in California then you would be familiar with the mountain lions. So now that we know which animal we are actually discussing today, lets learn a little about them, shall we?

As I mentioned the cougar is the largest cat species in North America and fourth largest in the world.  Only the tiger, lion and jaguar are larger than the cougar which averages 1.5-2.75 (5-9′) in length and weighs about 29-90 kg (64-198 lbs). Even though, it is large like the lions and tigers of the world the cougar actually has more in common with the common house cat than these larger felines.  Unlike the king of jungle, the cougar does not have a flexible hyoid and are unable to roar.  They are able to purr but don’t let that fool you into thinking the cougar wants to be your friend.

The size of the cougar allows it to feed on larger animals such as moose, deer and elk.  These prey items can be difficult to find and capture so the panther is able to go extended periods of time without feeding.  When it does find a nice, hearty meal the mountain lion is well prepared to eat.  They have very powerful jaws and extremely strong legs.  This large cat can run about 45 km/hr (30 miles/hr) and has the ability to jump up to 30 feet.  This is definitely not an animal that I would want stalking me. Come to think of it, I don’t want anything stalking me!

I hope you enjoyed some interesting facts about North America’s largest cat species.  If you have further questions then please don’t hesitate to ask in the comment section.