The cat of many names
Puma, cougar, mountain lion, panther and catamount are all the same animal.
The Andes
Puma
Puma concolor
A big, plain, sandy-brown cat with a small head and a long, heavy, dark-tipped tail.
- Size
- Up to 1.5m long, plus the tail
- Look for it
- All year round
- Where
- From Canada to the tip of South America
Pads after you, and bounds to catch up. Move your pointer and see.
When to look
Puma
Good to know
Six things about the puma
The widest range
No other wild land mammal in the Americas lives across so much of the two continents.
A champion jumper
A puma can leap five metres straight up, and much further along the ground.
It purrs
Pumas cannot roar. They purr, hiss, chirp and sometimes scream.
Spotted cubs
The cubs are born with spots and blue eyes, and lose both as they grow.
Rarely seen
Pumas avoid people, and can live close to towns without ever being noticed.
The real thing
Photos of the puma
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Photos are from Wikimedia Commons, used under the free licences shown. They have been resized, and cropped where they appear in link previews.
How to spot one
Torres del Paine in Chile is the best place in the world to see pumas. Guides watch where the guanacos are staring.
How to help
Pumas are killed where they take livestock. Guard dogs and night pens for sheep let ranchers and pumas share the land.
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