endangered animals

Mountain Lion Puma concolor The mountain lion is the largest wild cat in North America. It has many names. Some call it a cougar or a puma, and others call it a catamount or a panther. It has a light brown fur, and adults can weigh up to 200 pounds. They are good climbers and can jump as high as a second-story window. Their tracks can be four inches long. Their tracks show four toes on the front and back paws each. They can draw in their claws, allowing them to creep up on their prey. The noises they make are similar to the ones other cats make, but they sound much louder. After all, a mountain lion is 20 or 30 times larger than a pet cat. Young mountain lions have spots and a ringed, long tail. After about six months, their spots fade, and their coats turn a light brown color, like their parents. A liter of one to six cubs are born between late and mid-summer. The cubs stay with their mother for one to two years. The cubs become adults at three years. Mountain lions live in many parts of North and South America, including some parts of Canada and Argentina. Mountain lions are at home on rocky mountain slopes or in semidesert land. These cats can cope with hot, dry summers as well as cold, snowy winters. A male lion may need up to 175 square miles of territory for its home. Mountain lions are smart, powerful hunters with sharp senses. They have strong claws and teeth, as well as a rough tongue to scrape meat off bones. Their main prey is deer, but they also eat porcupines, raccoons, mice, birds, grass, foxes, and other small mammals. One lion will eat a deer a week. It will cover what it doesn't eat off its prey and return to it until the meat goes bad. A single male will travel 25 miles a night when hunting. They are most active at dawn and dusk, the times when deer are out feeding. The mountain lion's biggest threat is a pack of wolfs. However, mountain lions have been killed by hunters for sport or their fur, which has been used for rugs and fur coats. People have also moved into their areas to build towns and farms. Loss of habitat is the number one killer for them, and its sad when they are dying from starvation. Now, people are trying to save them from extinction. One program doing so is the Mountain Lion Foundation, a nonprofit conservation and education organization dedicated to protecting them, their habitat, and the wildlife that shares its habitat in California and the West. Some states have also set aside wilderness areas where they can live safely. Resources: 1. http://www.umich.edu 2. http://www.earthshareca.org 3. http://www.mountainlion.org 4. http://www.bear-tracker.com/cougar.html 5. Will We Miss Them? by Alexandra Wright, 1992 6. Cats, Big and Small by Paula Taylor, 1982 Scholastic Book Services	Vertaling volgt

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Written by: Payton	(geschreven door)