The mountain lion used to be found all over the United States, but now is primarily seen in the western U. An endangered subspecies of mountain lion also remains in Florida. These felines are comfortable in many different habitats and, aside from humans, have the widest geographic range of any land mammal in the Western Hemisphere.
In North America, mountain lions eat mainly deer, but they also eat smaller animals, such as mice and rabbits. These cats have a poor sense of smell, but have excellent vision and hearing that help them hunt in the early morning and evening hours. Their powerful hind legs enable them to jump as far as 40 to 45 feet 12 to 13 meters. This carnivore stalks its prey until an opportunity arises to pounce. Females have an average of two to four cubs per litter and give birth in a den.
The cubs are born with spots, which usually disappear by the time they are roughly nine months old. Their eyes also change from blue to yellow by the time they reach 16 months old. By 18 months, the young cats leave their mom to go fend for themselves. Take the big cat quiz to see how much you know about these fierce felines. All rights reserved. Personality Quizzes. Funny Fill-In. Amazing Animals. Weird But True!
The Susquehannock Wildlife Society wrote an article about a potential cougar photograph submitted to them and discussed their process of investigation, in the end they deemed it was not a mountain lion. Like all New England states, Massachusetts no longer has a population of mountain lions. Only two potential incidents have been confirmed, and both involved finding evidence of mountain lions, not the mountain lions themselves.
Read more about Massachusetts findings on mountain lions here. Michigan no longer has an established mountain lion population, however confirmed sightings are starting to become more frequent.
According to an article published by a local news outlet in August , there had been six confirmed sightings from the Upper Peninsula in that year alone, bringing the total of confirmed cougar sightings since up to This is still a very small number, but does suggest that mountain lions are travelings slightly more frequently to Michigan from established mountain lion territory in areas like South Dakota, Wyoming and Nebraska.
To see the the Michigan Department of Natural Resources page on cougars, visit here. Minnesota does not have an established breeding population of mountain lions. However, it boarders North and South Dakota, both of which do have established mountain lion populations.
Therefore roaming cats moving west are expected to sometimes cross into Minnesota. The state department of natural resources says that there is evidence that the prevalence of mountain lions in the state is increasing, however they believe it is still mostly just animals wandering in and out, not staying to breed.
After extirpation over years ago, mountain lions have not returned to Mississippi. Missouri does not currently have a breeding population of mountain lions, however the Missouri Department of Conservation acknowledges that mountain lions do have a presence in the state.
Almost all of the mountain lions found in Missouri so far, at least those where a sex determination could be made, have been males. Males are known to sometimes wander far in search of their own territory. Between and early , there have been 82 confirmed reports. Starting in and lasting many decades, bounties were paid for killing mountain lions in Montana, severely impacting the population.
This plus increasing numbers of deer and elk allowed the lion population to slowly recover. As of the population in Pine Ridge was estimated at The Niobrara River Valley and Wildcat Hills populations are relatively new and no estimates on population have yet been made. To read more about their efforts and mountain lions in Nebraska visit their page here. Estimates seem to fluctuate but the most recent I could find approximates about 2, mountain lions. Lions generally are most abundant in areas where deer are plentiful.
The mountain lion population in New Hampshire is considered to be zero. According to the New Hampshire Fish and Game page, there continues to be no evidence of any mountain lions in the state.
Officially, the bobcat is the only large cat that calls New Jersey its home, no mountain lions. However like most eastern states, there are occasional sightings called in, however none that I could find that have been confirmed. An Associated Press article from lists the mountain lion population at about 4, A report on the states page lists the estimated minimum population for to be about 3, The state has begun to use more high tech methods for tracking the secretive lions, including motion-capture cameras, mathematical models and GPS collaring.
They also engage in harvesting specific numbers of cougars each year to control the population. There is no population of mountain lions in New York state. But there have been sightings. One was confirmed to have traveled from a South Dakota population, and a few others were cougars that escaped from a licensed NY facility. You can read more about how to report a mountain lion sighting in New York here. There are no known mountain lions in North Carolina. Sightings are sometimes reported to the state, and in multiple people took to Facebook claiming to have seen one, but no confirmations have been made.
While much of North Dakota is open prairie habitat that will not support many mountain lions, they do reside in the more mountainous western parts of the state. As of the state does not estimate population numbers, but rather looks at overall trends, and feels the population has been fairly stable. Recent confirmed sightings of mountain lions in North Dakota are about per year. This article written in has a good wrap up of the current mountain lion status in North Dakota.
While there are many unconfirmed sightings of mountain lions in Ohio, there is not believed to be any living in the state. The cat that is growing in population within Ohio is the bobcat, and many official believe most of the sightings called in are actually people mistakenly seeing bobcats.
Meaning they have been documented in small numbers in the state, but there is no evidence that they breed or have established a territory in any one area. Visit Oklahomas mountain lion research page here. Oregon has quite a healthy population of mountain lions, estimated to be over 6, They can be found through the state, with the highest populations in the Blue Mountains and Cascade Mountains.
Despite these large numbers, they stay in the wilderness and encounters with humans have been rare. Visit Oregons mountain lion page here. Pennsylvania currently does not have a population of mountain lions.
Occasional sightings are made, but nothing confirmed. There is a possibility a transient lion passes through the state from time to time, but this would be considered rare.
There is no known population of mountain lions in Rhode Island. Like most New England states there are always sightings, but currently no confirmations. They do acknowledge some have escaped captivity in the last 30 or so years, and that there is a possibility of the occasional transient young male passing through. Some believe the Florida panther has traveled up to South Carolina but there is currently no evidence of that.
Most of the mountain lions in South Dakota can be found in the Black Hills region, where there are an estimated lions. There are also mountain lions in other parts of the state but the populations are smaller and exact numbers unclear.
Only a few confirmed sightings of mountain lions have occurred in Tennessee in recent years. They are considered a transient species in the state, with no breeding population. You can find out more about the confirmed sightings on the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency page here. Texas definitely has mountain lions, however just how many is unknown.
The habitat of the state could support more than 6,, but it is believed the current population is much lower than that. The map below only lists confirmed sightings, ranging from — The largest breeding population can be found in west Texas in the Trans Pecos region, and smaller pockets occur in the South Texas Plains, Balcones Escarpment and the canyonlands of the panhandle.
Utah is home to approximately 2, mountain lions. Hunting is allowed, with the state controlling the number of allowed harvests every year. You can read the states cougar management plan here. Mountain lions are considered to be extirpated from the state of Vermont. The catamount remains the mascot for the University of Vermont to this day. Occasional sightings persist, but rarely is there confirmation. There is no breeding population of mountain lions in Virginia, with the last wild cougar in the state killed in Washington County in Experts say there is habitat for them in the Appalachians today, and as the western mountain lions continue to slowly roam to the east, they could one day return more permanently to Virginia.
Washington is home to approximately 1, mountain lions. They are distributed throughout the state, except for a pocket around the Columbia river basin where not many reside.
As the population of humans in these areas, especially western Washington, increases, encounters may become more common. However cougar attacks remain rare, with only two maulings in the past years. Visit the Washington cougar page here. Just like their neighbor Virginia, there is no breeding population of mountain lions in West Virginia. There continue to be sightings and it is likely a transient mountain lion roams through on rare occasions. There is no permanent breeding population of mountain lions in Wisconsin, however there are occasional confirmed sighings.
In there were three confirmed mountain lions with a few others caught on trail cams. Biologists believe that the mountain lions seen belong to the groups found out in the Black Hill of South Dakota. It is estimated there are about 2, mountain lions in Wyoming. There is a brewing debate in the state of whether mountain lion hunting should be taken off the table until population numbers increase. Mountain lions were historically found throughout nearly all of North and South America.
Indians and native people of both continents often revered and had much admiration and folklore surrounding the big cats. As the European settlers arrived and populations grew, cougars became a prized animal to hunters, and a hated threat to farmers and ranchers livestock. Through hunting and habitat loss, mountain lions were completely wiped out of the eastern United States and faced harsh population decline in others by the early s.
Due to changes in laws, protections and conservation efforts, mountain lion populations have rebounded in some western states. Many experts believe with the high deer population cougars favorite prey animal that mountain lions could begin to make a comeback in their historic eastern range, given enough available habitat.
Mountain lions are very adaptable to different types of environments, which is why they are so widespread across North and South America. They can live in any type of forest, as well as canyonland, lowland and mountainous deserts, dense brush and even open spaces with little cover.
This makes how much suitable land is available for them to roam one of the biggest limiting factors in their population. Because cougars are so adaptable to different types of habitat, they have a huge range. In the United States, they was extirpated from most of the states east of the Mississippi River in the years after European colonization.
The U. There is evidence that these western mountain lions are slowly spreading east and may recolonize the middle and eastern states. The favorite meal of mountain lions are deer and elk.
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