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The mountain lion, or puma (or cougar, catamount, panther....) has a very wide range from southern Alaska to Tierra del Fuego, but has been extirpated from all of the eastern US except a relic population in south Florida -- although happily, there are indications that the species may be recolonizing its former eastern range. Despite their large size, wide distribution, and (in many places) substantial populations, mountain lions are normally very secretive and difficult to observe (I have seen three of them during a lifetime of off-and-on field work). These are captive animals (one was a former pet who outgrew his owner's tolerance), photographed in large enclosures at the Living Desert Reserve, near Palm Desert, California, and at the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum near Tucson, Arizona. |
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