CSG Species Accounts: Puma (Puma concolor)

Description and Behavior
The puma is an exceptionally successful generalist predator, and its adaptability probably helped it survive the late Pleistocene extinctions of the other large North American felids. Although it is a big cat, it is believed to be more closely related to the small cats, lacking the elastic hyoid and enlarged vocal folds of the Pantherines (Hast 1989). While it cannot roar, it is capable of a variety of vocalizations, and both sexes have a distinctive call, likened to a woman’s scream, which is probably associated with courtship (Young and Goldman 1946). Average weights range from 53-72 kg for adult males and 34-48 kg for adult females (Anderson 1983, Pall et al. 1988), and males have exceptionally weighed up to 120 kg (Banfield 1974). Pumas tend to be larger away from the equator toward the poles (McNab 1971, Kurtén 1973, Iriarte et al. 1990). They have large feet and proportionally the longest hind legs of the cat family (Gonyea 1976). The coat is plain (hence the Latin name concolor), which can vary in color from silvery-grey to tawny to reddish; as with the jaguarundi, coat color can be very different even between siblings (P. Crawshaw pers. comm.). Faint horizontal stripes may occur on the upper forelegs (P. Jackson pers. comm.). Melanism has been widely reported, and albinism infrequently (Guggisberg 1975, Tinsley 1987, Anon. 1989b). Young kittens are spotted, with blue eyes.
The known prey of pumas ranges from insects, birds, and mice up to porcupine, capybara, pronghorn, wapiti, bighorn sheep and moose (reviewed by Guggisberg 1975, Anderson 1983, Lindzey 1987, Iriarte et al. 1990, Hansen 1992). Large ungulates, particularly deer, are the puma’s principal prey in North America. Studies conducted in the region have found that ungulates make up an average of 68% of the diet (Iriarte et al. 1990). Ackerman et al. (1986) suggest that the energy requirements of females with young are such that viable populations cannot exist in areas devoid of deer-size ungulates. For example, they predicted that a resident female (based on studies in southern Utah) would kill a white-tailed deer every 16 days, and that the interval would shrink to nine days when her kittens were three months old, and to three days when the kittens were nearly mature at 15 months.
However, in the southern parts of puma range, and particularly in the tropics, small to medium-sized prey appear to be more important. Although the studies on which this conclusion is based suffer from extremely small sample sizes (Rabinowitz and Nottingham 1986, Emmons 1987, Crawshaw and Quigley in prep.), Iriarte et al. (1990) suggest that the puma’s smaller body size in the tropics, and its low rate of predation on larger prey (such as tapirs), are linked to interspecific competition with the jaguar (the largest American felid). Pumas in the tropics are probably still capable of taking large prey, but Crawshaw and Quigley (in prep.), working on a ranch in the subtropical Brazilian Pantanal, found that while pumas take calves of domestic cattle and sheep, adult cattle were taken only by jaguars. Still, even in Chile, where jaguars do not occur, small prey is a key element of puma diet. Pumas in the mountains of southern Chile eat 25 European hares for every one guanaco (Johnson et al. in press). Iriarte et al. (1991) point out that the European hare was introduced to South America only 90 years ago, and its significance as a prey item for pumas demonstrates the flexibility of their predatory behavior. It is interesting that the puma occurs in a variety of habitats and takes both large and small prey, similarly to the leopard in the Old World, while the jaguar, like the tiger, is closely tied to well-watered forested environments and is capable of taking very large prey.
Radiotelemetry studies in North America and southern Chile have found pumas to be primarily nocturnal and crepuscular, with activity peaks at dusk and dawn, and limited diurnal activity (Van Dyke et al. 1986a, review by Hansen 1992, Johnson et al. in press). Males make scrapes in prominent locations, and especially along boundaries of home ranges. This behavior apparently advertises temporal presence (Hornocker 1969, Seidensticker et al. 1973). Large kills are often covered with scraped-over vegetation and dirt, and pumas often remain in the vicinity, returning frequently to feed. Seidensticker et al. (1973) found that, in the winter, one puma fed from a carcass for 19 days. However, pumas rarely feed from carcasses of animals which they have not themselves killed (F. Lindzey in litt. 1993).