Wildcats are my favorite animals. These cats come in all sizes, from the size of a housecat all the way up to 800 pounds! These cats are also masters of surviving in every climate on earth... maybe except deserts. In the himilayas there are snow leopards, and in the heat of the Africian plains there are Lions, Leopards, and cheetahs.
Closer to home, Nova scotia has two identified types of wild cats:Bobcats and Canadian Lynx. Cougars once roamed nova Scotia, but the last one shot in the maritimes was in New Brunswick in the 30's and no hard evidence of them has been found since then... but they are still listed as an endangered species in the maritimes.
I have a frind who claims a cougar ran in front of his car in Cape Breton... this is very possible. Just because we don't see them doesn't mean they don't live here. cougars are extremely private, like to avoid contact with us, and have huge ranges to patrol. There has been some evidence found that they still live in the maritimes, just nothing to quiet the critics. One of the biggest points to consider is that cougars might not have enough space in Nova scotia to maintain a breeding population. Cougars have huge ranges and as man has advanced in Nova Scotia the size of possible cougar territory has decreased, and with it the probability of a breeding cougar population.
My favorite cat is The cougar. It goes by many names such as puma, mountain lion, painter, or panther. Panther is a generic term refering to any melanistic (black)cat... the problem is that no melanistic cougars have ever been found, only melanistic jaguars and leopards. Although Jaguars and Cougars share common habitat in Central America, the Jaguar is quite different looking and a noticably larger cat.
The cougar is the 4th largest member of the cat family weighing in at 185 pounds on average with a max weight of 215 pounds. I like these cats because they are the definition of efficient hunters. They have one of the largest and most diverse ranges of all cats and most animals. Stretching from northern Canada all the way through Central America, covering mountains, dry desert area, and thick jungles. Cougars kill by sneaking up on pray much like a housecat does, then when they are ready they leap out and break the preys neck with a bite from its jaws to instantly kill the animal. should this be unsuccessful the Cougar can sprint at fast speeds and catch the speed. They are fast, quiet cats that are designed to take down prey larger thn themselves. A cougar has been seen taking down a bear before. Although is is EXTREMELY rare, it has happened. A Bear will almost always beat a cougar, and a cougar would never attack a bear for obvisous reasons... but it goes without saying that a cornered animal, or one protecting it's young is quite dangerous.
Recently I had a chance to see the cougar living at the Shubenacadie wildlife park in Nova Scotia, from outside the cage of course :p I don't think it cared to have it's picture taken... after a few pics it growled at me, and when I continued to take pics of the cougar it pounced at me! Although it knew it was in a cage it wanted to get the message across.
Here are some pics of the cougar at Shubenacadie. Yay for cougars!
