Though named “the cat of one color,” the cougar begins its life with numerous dark spots on its fur and rings around its tail. These markings provide a protective camouflage to keep the cub less visible while it is still young and vulnerable to predators. The cougar’s spots gradually fade so that, by the time the cougar is one and a half to two years old, the markings are gone. This is about the same time that the cougar leaves the care of its mother and goes to live on its own. Except for mothers and their young, adult cougars like to live alone. A male cougar is very protective of his territory, which may range from 50 to 150 square miles. A cougar may travel up to 25 miles a night to find prey. It prefers large mammals like deer and moose, and what it does not eat at first, it will partially bury or cover with leaves and grasses to save for future meals. A cougar will also eat coyotes, beavers, squirrels, mice, hares, birds, and even grasshoppers.

The mostly widely distributed mammal in the Western Hemisphere, the cougar used to be found in all of the United States, all of South America and southern and northwestern Canada. Humans have taken away large amounts of the cougar’s habitat through development and have killed many cougars because they feel they are a threat to livestock. Now cougars are no longer found in the eastern United States except for a small population in Florida. In the west, they have been pushed toward more mountainous and unpopulated areas. Some populations are listed as endangered by the U.S. Endangered Species act, but in areas where cougars are common, hunting them is still allowed.