CSG Species Accounts: Puma (Puma concolor)

Population Status
Global: Category 5(A)
Regional: Category 4(A)
IUCN: Eastern cougar (F.c. cougar) and Florida panther (F.c. coryi; see Worst-Case Scenario) Endangered in North America. In Central and South America, the puma still occurs throughout much of its historical range. However, focused studies have only been carried out in North America.
In Canada, the puma has been extirpated from most of its former range, and the main population is now found in south-western British Columbia, where they are estimated to number 3,500-5,000 (Hummel 1990). In adjacent habitat in Alberta, Jalkotzy et al. (1992) estimated a population of 685 pumas, with 93% living outside national parks. There are occasional reports of pumas in the far south of the North-West Territories (K. Poole in litt. 1993), and in Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia (Anon. 1989b). Presence in a remote forested area of east-central New Brunswick was recently confirmed by the finding of a set of tracks and scat (Cumberland 1993). In Manitoba, on the other hand, while puma reports are made to the government at a rate of 10-50 per year (Johnson 1990), the only field survey produced no evidence of puma presence (M. Jalkotzy in litt. 1993). An Eastern Panther Recovery Team has been formed by the Canadian Wildlife Service (Tischendorf 1992a).

A Worst-Case
Scenario
As in Canada, the puma was essentially eliminated from most of the eastern US within 200 years following European colonization (Wright 1959). The only eastern state where the puma is unequivocally known to persist is Florida (see Worst-Case Scenario). In the north-eastern US, hundreds of sighting reports have been investigated and compiled (Wright 1972, Anon. 1989b, Tischendorf 1992b), but the existence of actual remnant populations has not been verified. Several networks have been established to further investigate the species status in the region, including the Eastern Puma Research Network and the Friends of the Eastern Panther (Tischendorf 1992a). Pumas are rare in the central plains region, with few resident populations (Tischendorf and Henderson 1993). The puma has fared much better in the less populated western US, and with changes in management status from "varmint" (vermin) to game animal, numbers there appear to be increasing (reviewed by Beier 1991, Seidensticker and Lumpkin 1992). Population estimates by state wildlife authorities indicate that pumas in the western US probably number over 10,000 (Tischendorf 1991).
Anderson (1983) summarized information on densities of puma populations in North America. For those populations that were studied for at least 12 months or over two consecutive winters, densities ranged from 0.5 to 4.9 individuals/100 km² (studies carried out only in North America). The lowest densities have been reported from arid regions (Hemker et al. 1984, Sweanor 1990). A protected population in Patagonia (50°S) was found to have an average density of seven animals/100 km², among the highest densities so far documented, and presumably the result of protection and an abundant prey base (Iriarte et al. 1991, Johnson et al. in press). Crawshaw and Quigley (unpubl. data) estimated density at 4.4 individuals per 100 km² on a cattle ranch in the Brazilian Pantanal. Based on a number of North American studies, Shaw (1989) concludes that adult resident carrying capacity is of the order of 26-52 km² per individual. Densities have not been calculated for pumas inhabiting tropical forests.
Lindzey (1987) summarized the results of North American studies of puma home ranges: average range size varied from 32-1,031 km². Male home range size tended to be at least several hundred km², while most female ranges were less than 100 km². Male home ranges typically encompass those of several slightly overlapping resident females; resident male ranges only occasionally overlap. However, one study in central California’s Diablo Mountains found that male ranges overlapped while those of females did not (Hopkins 1989). The largest home ranges have been found in arid environments (McBride 1976), while the smallest documented home ranges appear to be in areas where the major prey is non-migratory (Sitton 1977). Pumas living in mountains that receive heavy snowfall tend to shift their summer ranges downward in elevation, following seasonal movements of ungulates (Seidensticker et al. 1973, Ashman et al. 1983, Hemker et al. 1984).