How long can pumas live

Female pumas reach sexual maturity between 1 — 3 years. One litter of cubs is born every 2 — 3 years. Females are in estrous for 8 days of a 23 day cycle. After a gestation period of 91 days, a litter of 1 — 6 cubs are born.

Maternal dens are usually caves or other covered areas offering protection for the cubs. Cubs are spotted and born with blue eyes and rings on their tails. Cubs are weaned around 3 months after birth and as they develop they accompany their mother to kill sites. At 6 months old, cubs hunt for small prey of the own. Female pumas will guard her cubs fiercely and successfully fight off animals as large as Grizzly Bears.

Cubs will leave their mother to establish their own territory at around 2 years old. The life span of a puma in the wild is between 8 — 13 years and 18 — 19 years in captivity. The total breeding population of pumas is less than 50, individuals and continues to decline. Pumas have no particular threats from other animals besides humans, although it interacts with other large predators such as the Brown Bear and Grey Wolf in which it competes for prey. In some parts it may have to compete with the Jaguar and the American Alligator.

When the puma and jaguars range overlaps, jaguars will dominate the larger prey and the puma will take the smaller prey. When the hunter arrives on the scene, he shoots the cat from the tree at close range.

The Cougar cannot be legally killed in California except under very specific circumstances, such as when an individual is declared a public safety threat. However statistics from the Department of Fish and Game indicate that cougar killings in California have been on the rise since s with an average of over cats killed per year from to compared to 6 per year in the s. Image Source. More Fascinating Animals to Learn About.

The mother nurses them for 3 months or so , but they can eat meat at about 6 weeks of age. At six months old , cubs hunt for small prey of the own.

They learn quickly. Cubs will leave their mother to establish their own territory at around two years old. Pumas learn to climb the tree early in their life. One of the most famous subspecies of Puma is the Florida Panther which is the smallest of the Puma species and also the rarest.

The total breeding population of pumas is less than 50, individuals and continues to decline. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. Prev Article Next Article. Related Posts.

They nurse for about 40 days. Mother and cubs remain together for as long as 26 months, though the average is 15 months. Males generally move farther, once they've left their mother, than do females. Mother mountain lions care for and nurse their young until they are about a year old. The young are born helpless and are protected by the mother in a sheltered area until they are big enough to roam and begin to learn and practice hunting skills. Mountain lions may live up to 18 to 20 years in the wild.

They can live slightly longer in captivity. Mountain lions are solitary animals, except during brief mating times and when females have young. Depending on the abundance of prey and other resources in an area, there may be 1 mountain lion in anywhere from 13 to 85 square kilometers. Mountain lions in cold climates may have to migrate between summer and winter ranges. They are capable of moving over large distances.

Mountain lions mark their territories by depositing urine or fecal materials by areas called "scrapes". Mountain lions are mainly nocturnal. Male mountain lions are found together immediately after leaving their mother usually brother pairs , but rarely as adults. Home ranges of females range from 26 to square kilometers, with an average of square kilometers.

Female home ranges may overlap extensively. Male home ranges do not overlap with those of other males and typically encompass the home ranges of two females. They range in size from to square kilometers, with an average of square kilometers.

Mountain lions rely mainly on vision, smell, and hearing. They use low-pitched hisses, growls, purrs, yowls, and screams in different circumstances. Loud, chirping whistles by young serves to call the mother. Touch is important in social bonding between mother and young. Scent marking is important in advertising territory boundaries and willingness to mate. Mountain lions are carnivores. Their main prey throughout their range are different species of deer and their relatives, including moose , elk , white-tailed deer , mule deer , and caribou in North America.

They will also eat smaller creatures like squirrels , muskrat , porcupine , beaver , raccoon , striped skunk , coyote , bobcats , other mountain lions, rabbits , opossums , birds , and even snails and fish. They may also prey on domestic livestock, including poultry, calves, sheep, goats, and pigs. Mountain lions have a distinctive manner of hunting larger prey. The lion quietly stalks the prey animals, then leaps at close range onto their back and breaks the animal's neck with a powerful bite below the base of the skull.

Yearly food consumption is between to 1, kg of large prey animals, about 48 deer-sized animals per lion per year. Mountain lions store large prey, dragging it up to meters from the place of capture and burying it under leaves and debris.

They return nightly to feed. Mountain lions are top predators. They may be preyed on by other mountain lions, wolves, or bear when they are young or ill. Mountain lions are important as top predators in the ecosystems in which they live. They are instrumental in controlling populations of large ungulates. Although mountain lions are secretive and generally avoid humans, they sometimes attack humans. Attacks are usually on small adults and children traveling alone during dawn, dusk, or at night.