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The Making of a Diorama
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Recreating Nature Indoors
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Cougar, mountain lion, or puma
Puma concolor (Linnaeus, 1771)
Scene:
Owens Valley, CaliforniaBackground artist:
Hanson Duvall Puthuff (1875-1972)Also present:
Rock Wren (Salpinctes obsoletus)The range of the cougar, the largest North American feline, covers a wider array of ecological zones than any other New World mammal.
Cougars hunt alone, ambushing their prey from behind and killing with a bite to the nape of the neck.
Biological Information
Range:
North and South America from southeast Alaska to southern Argentina and Chile
Habitat:
Forests, desert scrub, chaparral, swamps, tropical rain forest, alpine steppe
Status:
Extinct in eastern USA and Canada, endangered in Florida, stable elsewhere
Diet:
Deer, elk, wild sheep, small mammals, birds, domestic stock
Further information about this species may be found on the Animal Diversity Web page for cougar.
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