Mountain lions, also known as cougars or pumas, are large powerful predators at the top of the food chain. Adult mountain lions vary in weight from 85-120 pounds for females to 120-180 pounds for males, and may reach 7 to 8 feet in length from their nose to the tip of their tail. Mountain lions typically are 2 to 3 feet high at the shoulder. Adults are tawny colored with a dark tip on the end of their tail. Young lions, called kittens or cubs, have spots that fade through their first year of life.
Mountain lions were once the most widely distributed land mammal in the western hemisphere, ranging from northern British Columbia to the southern tip of South America. Found in nearly every state before Europeans settled here, mountain lions are now restricted primarily to the western states and a remnant population in Florida.
Mountain lions were first killed for a bounty beginning in 1879. In 1971, they were classified as a game animal by the Montana legislature and as a result lions have regained much of their historical distribution in Montana, except on the open prairies.
As demonstrated by a once vast geographical range, the mountain lion is a very adaptive and effective predator. In Montana, and throughout the western United States, the mountain lion's primary prey species are deer and elk. Prey also include almost all of Montana's big game animals and mice, rabbits, beaver, grouse, and occasionally domestic pets and livestock. The lion is even one of the only predators the well-defended porcupine worries about.
Mountain lions customarily take down prey many times their own size. It is not unusual for a 100-pound mountain lion to kill a 400-pound elk. Lions silently stalk or ambush their unsuspecting prey, most often with a short sprint, attacking from behind.
Lions feeding on a kill are potentially dangerous and should never be approached. A feeding lion in defense of food may suddenly become aggressive. Lions cover unconsumed portions of their kills with soil and litter. These food caches should also be avoided by humans.
Mountain lions are most active at dusk and dawn when their prey is active, but they do travel at any time of the day or night. Lions have special adaptation for seeing at night and are easily blinded when caught in a passing headlight or flashlight.
Mountain lions are semi-territorial. Adults stake out a home range by leaving scent in "scrapes" along the boundaries. A scrape is a four to six inch mound of dirt and forest litter pulled together where the cat deposits urine and dung. This marking system is the way lions tell other lions that the area is already occupied and should be avoided. In this way, territories can be defended more by mutual avoidance rather than by aggressive defense of space.
A typical male territory in Montana is usually more than 100 square miles, while a female's territory is usually less than 50 square miles. Subadult lions may not be able to immediately find an unoccupied territory. In these cases, subadults become transient, covering very large areas in search of an unoccupied territory.
Females first breed at about two years of age, and generally not until they have established a territory. The gestation period is 92 days long. Lions give birth at about two-year intervals. While lions will breed at any time of year, most litters in Montana are born during the warmer months. This is also the time young lions, one to two years of age, are becoming independent. Littermates may travel together for months before separating. This fact may explain why it is not uncommon to see these normally solitary creatures traveling together.
Mountain lion populations have been increasing throughout the western United States since the mid-1960s, at the same time, human populations are also growing. In Montana, population growth has led to urban developments in many previously undeveloped areas, including new subdivisions in mountain foothills and canyons. One outcome of this expansion is an increase in the number of interactions between mountain lions and people.
There are simply more people and lions using a smaller area in the West, and that means more people are likely to see lions. On a national scale, more lion incidents have been reported in the past 20 years than in the previous 80.
One-to-two year old mountain lions account for more than 70% of the lion-human interactions in Montana. Many of these encounters involve young lions trying to establish their own home ranges and perhaps having difficulty appropriately identifying prey or obtaining enough food in the wild.
Actual conflicts with lions remain rare and seldom lead to serious injury or death. In more than 100 years, there have been fewer than 12 recorded human fatalities due to lion attacks in the United States.
Remember: Seeing a mountain lion in the outdoors is not an emergency or even a threat, it should be expected when recreating in mountain lion country. An aggressive lion, however, is unusual and should be reported to the nearest Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks office immediately.
Mountain lion prints are round in shape, have a deeply bi-lobed main pad, and normally do not show claws. The shape of a lion track is basically round, only slightly wider than it is long. The tracks have four teardrop-shaped toes, three distinct lobes at the base of the heel pads, and a bi-lobed leading edge of the paw pad. Lynx tracks overlap smaller lion tracks in size, and wolves or large domestic dogs overlap in size with larger lions. Neither of these species, however, display the deeply three-lobed heel pads or the bi-lobing on the front of the main paw pad. Since the claws are retractable in cats, claw marks generally are not apparent in their tracks as they are with dogs and wolves.
length 3"-width 3½"
Hind paw
length 3"-width 3"
Common gait is a walk.
Large dog prints are rectangular in shape, have one lobe on the front of the main pad, and generally show claws.
We can live successfully with mountain lions if we respect them and protect adequate habitat for them. Here are actions urban and rural dwellers can take to avoid conflicts with mountain lions.
By feeding deer, raccoons, or other wildlife in your yard, you may inadvertently attract mountain lions, which prey upon them.
Avoid using plants that deer prefer to eat; if landscaping attracts deer, mountain lions may be close by.
Remove dense and/or low-lying vegetation that would provide good hiding places for mountain lions, especially around children's play areas; make it difficult for mountain lions to approach a yard unseen.
Keep the house perimeter well lit at night – especially along walkways – to keep any approaching mountain lions visible.
Roaming pets are easy prey for hungry mountain lions. Either bring pets inside or keep them in a kennel with a secure top. Don't feed pets outside; this can attract raccoons and other mountain lion prey.
Where practical, place livestock in enclosed sheds and barns at night, and be sure to secure all outbuildings.
Keep a close watch on children whenever they play outdoors. Make sure children are inside before dusk and not outside before dawn. Talk with children about mountain lions and teach them what to do if they encounter one.
Most people in Montana have never seen a mountain lion, and those who have say they feared the unknown the most. Ironically, many people may know more about lions than any other wild animal in the West.
Though the differences shouldn't be underplayed—the lion is a large, powerful, wild animal, the house cat's descendants were domesticated some say 12,000 years ago—mountain lions and house cats share many behaviors and physical features.
Predatory behavior is remarkably similar in all species of wild and domestic cats. Cats share many physical features including remarkably sophisticated retractable claws and the rear teeth evolved into carnassial teeth designed for tearing and shearing meat before swallowing. All cats are also "pure" carnivores with a digestive system set up to subsist on fresh meat only.
Though owning a house cat doesn't make you a mountain lion expert by any means, the real experts—including Steve Torres, nationally known mountain lion biologist and author of the book "Lion Sense," and Toni Ruth, mountain lion research scientist at the Selway Institute in Idaho—say domestic cat owners are likely to have seen and interpreted many feline behaviors also demonstrated by mountain lions.
Most cat owners interpret their cat's behavior and moods by practicing what biologists call interspecific communication—communication by means other than words—such as observing body language. The experts say these observations could provide transferable knowledge when it comes to dealing with an encounter with a mountain lion.
To appreciate this principle, check out these behaviors shared by domestic and wild cats:
Seeing a mountain lion in the wild is sure to get your heart-pumping, but you will be more likely to relish this rare experience without incident if you take time now to study feline behavior, including that of housecats, and learn all you can about the habits of Montana's mountain lions.