This research report is about the Eastern Cougar. You should read this research report to find out about an animal in danger. The Eastern Cougar is a mammal and belongs to the cat family. The complicated scientific name of the Eastern Cougar is felis concoular cougar. The Eastern Cougar is endangered. You will see in this report the appearance, food, habitat, threats and interesting facts of the Eastern Cougar.
The Eastern Cougar is a large predator that is 171-274 cm long. if it is a male and 150-233 cm long if it is a female. Their tail lengths are 66- 90 cm long if it is a male and 53-82 cm long if it is a female. The back of their ears, tip of its tail and stripe on it's muzzle are black. The cougars chest and throat are white and their belly is bluff. Throughout the year an Eastern cougar's fur changes. In the summer it is short and light brown. In the winter it is long and grayish brown. The Eastern Cougar used to live all over North and South America. Now it is only found in preservation parks. It exists in Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Ontario, Quebec and Florida. It is mostly found in Florida. It needs trees, cliffs, bluffs, and shrubs in it's habitat. It is active dusk to dawn.
The Eastern Cougar eats lots of different foods. It eats mostly white tailed deer but sometimes it eats the other animals including moose, porcupine, beaver, snowshoe hare, ground squirrels, mice, birds, coyotes, foxes, lynx, bobcats and skunk. Eastern Cougars catch their prey by stalking and springing from bushes and rock cliffs. The Eastern Cougar eats about 4 kg of food per day. The Eastern Cougar eats only fresh meat. It is very rare for an Eastern Cougar to attack people or livestock.
The Eastern Cougar has many threats. It was designated endangered in 1978. It is protected all over Ontario except in Quebec. Their main threat is the size of the deer population and their habitat is becoming farm land and roads. They became endangered because of persecution by man. The hunters hunted them down because they ate livestock. They had little trouble doing this with dogs. Other threats are unknown.
The Eastern Cougar is very interesting. An Eastern Cougar can leap the width of two lane road from a standing start. A baby Eastern Cougar is born with blue eyes (like humans) and loses them when they are 3 months old. The Eastern Cougar likes to cool off and swim (like humans.) Did you know? That the biggest Eastern Cougar is 11 feet! To protect itself from enemies, before the Eastern Cougar places weight on it's front paw, he or she rolls his foot pad gently on the ground to detect dry leaves or twigs that might crackle. To make no sound at all the Eastern cougar always places it's back feet in the footprints left by the front ones making zigzag tacks. This makes it look like an animal with only 2 legs.