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Welcome back to another exciting week of Wild Facts.\u00a0 I don’t have a whole lot of introductory small talk today so I figure we should jump right into today’s fact.\u00a0 We are going to talk about the largest cat species in North America.\u00a0 That’s right, we are talking about the panther.\u00a0 Now I am sure some of you are saying “Whoa!\u00a0 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”.\u00a0 All of you would actually be right since the Cougar, Mountain Lion Panther and even the Puma are all the same animal (Felis concolor<\/em>).\u00a0 They just have many names depending where you happen to live.\u00a0 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?<\/p>\n

As I mentioned the cougar is the largest cat species in North America and fourth largest in the world.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 Unlike the king of jungle, the cougar does not have a flexible hyoid and are unable to roar.\u00a0 They are able to purr but don’t let that fool you into thinking the cougar wants to be your friend.<\/p>\n

The size of the cougar allows it to feed on larger animals such as moose, deer and elk.\u00a0 These prey items can be difficult to find and capture so the panther is able to go extended periods of time without feeding.\u00a0 When it does find a nice, hearty meal the mountain lion is well prepared to eat.\u00a0 They have very powerful jaws and extremely strong legs.\u00a0 This large cat can run about 45 km\/hr (30 miles\/hr) and has the ability to jump up to 30 feet.\u00a0 This is definitely not an animal that I would want stalking me. Come to think of it, I don’t want anything stalking me!<\/p>\n

I hope you enjoyed some interesting facts about North America’s largest cat species.\u00a0 If you have further questions then please don’t hesitate to ask in the comment section.<\/p>\n

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Welcome back to another exciting week of Wild Facts.\u00a0 I don’t have a whole lot of introductory small talk today so I figure we should jump right into today’s fact.\u00a0 We are going to talk about the largest cat species in North America.\u00a0 That’s right, we are talking about the panther.\u00a0 Now I am sure some of you are saying “Whoa!\u00a0 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”.\u00a0 All of you <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2084,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[60,4024],"tags":[348,607,612,611,608,4025,609,610,258],"yoast_head":"\n