Cougars

Mrs. Patterson’s first grade class Cougars Our research project Mrs. Patterson’s first grade class 2009 Written by: Helena Donald Garret Kaylee Emma Robin Cheyanne Skylar Dawson Kyaira Abby Jesse Carter Elizabeth Kaleb

Illustration by: Elizabeth Cougars look like large cats.

Table of Contents Chapter 1 What do cougars look like? pg 3 Chapter 2 What do cougars eat? pg 9 Chapter 3 Where do cougars live? pg 15 Chapter 4 How are cougars like people? pg 21

Cougars have spots when they are babies. Illustration by: Emma

What do cougars look like? The cougar is a cat and is much like a house cat. It has the same long, smooth body. It even sounds like a loud house cat. Cougars are related to the cat family. Some Cougars have spots and some don’t. Cougars have two layers of fur; one has a pattern and one without. Cougars have spots when they are babies and they go away as they get older. They can be grey or yellow. Fur covers a cougar’s body. Cougars’ fur is usually some shade of brown or gray with white underneath. 3

All cougars look a little different. Illustration by: Abby

All cougars don’t look exactly alike because some have black, yellow, grayish or reddish fur. The tip of the tail is brown, There are patches of white on their face, throat, chest and legs. Cougars have eyes, a nose, mouth, a snout and two ears. Cougars can see in the dark because their pupils get big. Their eye color can be green or yellow. Little cubs have blue eyes and they open them when they are eight days old. Cougar faces look like Cubby. Cougars paws have pads like Cubby. Cougars take long naps like Cubby. Cubby 5

Illustrated by: Kaleb Some Cougars can have green eyes.

Cougars have tails to help them steer, balance and swiftly change direction when chasing prey. A cougars tail is about 3 feet long and has a black tip of fur at the end. When cougars run their ears go back. When cougars sleep they look like they are in a ball. When cougars walk their legs move forward. When cougars climb, they use their paws and claws. They dig their claws in the ground when they jump. 7

Cougars like to eat porcupines. Illustration by: Garret

What do cougars eat? Cougars are predators or hunters. Cougars stalk prey by moving slowly toward an animal and crouching. When it gets close to its prey, it bounds and leaps on it. A cougar has the strength and teeth to kill a healthy elk or moose up to seven times its size. Deer are the cougars favorite prey. A marmot can be a good meal for a cougar. Cougars also eat porcupines. 9

Cougars can eat deer, rabbits, marmots and porcupines Cougars can eat deer, rabbits, marmots and porcupines. Illustration by: Helena

Cougars kill with their teeth. They often kill big animals Cougars kill with their teeth. They often kill big animals. They hide their prey and come back to it to eat later when they get hungry. It can last them several days to a week. Cougars eat their food at nighttime after they find food and kill it. Sometimes cougars use their claws or teeth to catch their food. Cougars hide their food at daytime. At night time they go back and eat the food they killed. 11

Cougars re-visit their kills and eat from them for several nights Cougars re-visit their kills and eat from them for several nights. Illustration by: Garret

Baby cougars depend on their mother to eat Baby cougars depend on their mother to eat. For the first few weeks, the cubs stay in the den and drink only mothers milk. Cubs stay with their other for up to two years. By the age of 20 to 22 months they have learned to stalk and kill their own prey. In the wild, cougars stalk and hunt wild animals. In the zoo, they eat a carnivorous (meat) diet and enjoy enrichment and training treats such as fish, mice, bones, hides and even whole carcasses on occasion. 13

Illustration by Skylar Cougars live in South America and North America. They have different names like puma, mountain lion and panther depending where they live. Illustration by Skylar

Where do cougars live? Cougars used to live all over North and South America. Now there are not many left. They are found only in wilderness areas far away from cities and main roads. They only live in the western United States and a few places in Canada. They also live in most parts of Mexico. Many North American cougars live in mountains and forests. But some live in swamps. Some in South America live in jungles and rain forests. 15

A cougars habitat can be in rocky caves. Illustration by Cheyanne

Illustration by Kyaira Meyle A cougars habitat is in a rocky cave in the mountains where they can get food and water. Their den site may be under a rock opening in a cave surrounded by thick briar brambles or a low hanging branch. The cougar uses the cave for cover to protect the mother and her cubs. Illustration by Kyaira Meyle 17

Cougars live in caves. Illustration by Carter

Although locally rare or extinct, the cougar is not yet an endangered animal. The cougar is kept in some zoos in North America for educational reasons. If you visit a cougar in a zoo, you can see is sleep, eat and play in a manmade habitat much like the one they live in in the wild. 19

Cougars can live in a mountain habitat. Illustration by Dawson

How are Cougars like people? Cougars have babies. Cougars have babies just like people. The babies are born alive. Some cougars have two or three babies, but can have up to six. Babies are born in the cougars den. The babies are called kittens. The kittens drink their mothers milk. The mother watches over her kittens for about two years. Cougars try to stay clean. Cougars stay clean by licking their fur. They get dirty with things like mud and blood. Cats are very clean animals and spend a lot of time grooming. Cougars from the same family often wash each other to strengthen bonds and spread their scent around. 21

Cougars like to lay in the sun. Illustration by Kaylee

Cougars learn. Cougars hunt. Cougars are mammals. 23 Baby cougars learn from their moms. They also learn from play fighting each other when they are young. They learn by watching their mother hunt and eat. When they grow up they will be able to do it on their own. Cougars hunt. Cougars eat deer sheep and lambs. Cougars have to chase the animals and kill them to eat them. Cougars hunt to eat their food. Cougars are mammals. Cougars are mammals. A mammal is a warm blooded animal that has a backbone, two pairs of limbs hair on its body and feeds its young milk. Humans are also mammals. 23

Cougars play in the snow. Illustration by Jesse

Cougars like to have fun. When the sun is high in the sky, cougars snooze in trees or sun themselves on rocky ledges or in forest glades. Cougars climb well. They run with great bursts of speed. A cougar can leap sixteen feet from the ground into a tree. That’s higher than a basketball hoop. Cougars need to sleep. Cougars stay up all night to hunt and eat food. They take short naps in trees, on the ground and in caves. They are nocturnal which means doing most of their hunting at night. Cougars do not hibernate. Cougars do not hibernate in winter. Instead they have large feet to enable them to walk and hunt easily on the snow. 25