Secrets of the Elusive Cougar

The mighty cougar is the largest wild cat in North America, and among its most elusive predators, Alex Heffernan recently told the Parry Sound Nature Club at its September meeting.

Alex worked with the Southern British Columbia Cougar Project to find out how these big cats survive in landscapes that include human developments such as roads, buildings, logging, and mines.

A few facts about cougars

Cougars range farther than any other terrestrial mammal in the western hemisphere, from Alaska to the southern tip of South America, in habitats that can range from boreal forest to deserts. Across this wide range, they have dozens of Indigenous names as well as more than 40 English names, including mountain lion, puma, and catamount.

Cougars are solitary creatures that hunt alone. Full-grown adult males weigh 120–180 pounds, females 80–120 pounds. They have sharp senses and astonishing speed, but their superpower is their stealth. They creep closer and closer to their prey so silently that their prey doesn’t know it’s been ambushed until it’s too late.

In British Columbia (B.C.), they feed on mainly deer. In other environments, their prey also includes moose, small mammals, and (in Patagonia) penguins. They are apex predators (meaning they are the top of the food chain) and as such play an important part in the overall health of the ecosystems. Some research suggestions they directly and indirectly interact with 485 other species. They regulate deer populations, limit disease in the environment by preying on weak animals, and leave behind carcasses that feed scavenging eagles, bears, and other animals.

Southern British Columbia Cougar Project findings

Alex studied more than 20 adult cats and their kittens in 57 different dens, all located in the traditional and unceded territories of the Ktunaxa and Syilx First Nations, which encompass over 15,000 km² plus across B.C.’s Okanagan and Kootenay regions.

The team used hounds trained to follow cougar tracks after fresh snowfall to find the big cats. They also visited dens to weigh, measure, and tag the kittens.

To make one den visit, researchers made noise to encourage the mother to leave. When the mother cougar leaves the den, they examine the kittens. There was one particularly close encounter when the big mama didn’t leave as soon as expected and crossed in front of Alex’s path about 30 meters ahead. Fortunately, the cougar demonstrated her species’ preference for avoidance over confrontation and she simply left.

Key study findings

Alex’s central finding was that in areas shared with humans, safety for their cubs and concealment of their dens is far more important to cougars than prey availability. The dens in B.C. they found were typically inaccessible to humans, in rugged, forested terrain far from paved and unpaved roads.

This is in sharp contrast to protected areas with limited human interaction. In Yellowstone Park, for example, roads we found to have little effect on the location of cougar dens.

Cougars in Ontario?

While the odd cougar is occasionally spotted in eastern North America, most big cats turn out to be wandering solo males from the west, escaped captives, or misidentified bobcats—although one intrepid young male famously journeyed from South Dakota to Connecticut.

Cougars are not likely to settle in Parry Sound any time soon. There are actually some downsides to not having cougars live in an area - natural prey regulation by cougars here could slow the spread of deer diseases. It could also prevent more than 21,000 injuries and 150 deaths from deer-vehicle collisions, saving an estimated $2 billion in medical and property costs.