Are There Mountain Lions In North Carolina?

Stories about cougars have gone viral these days thanks to easy internet access. Eerie night-time photos from off-road cameras and stories of mountain lions attacking hikers have flooded social media and news channels. They are so common that many people think there are more cougars than there actually are. Majestic cats only live in a small part of the United States. But if so, are there cougars in North Carolina?

We explore this question and catch a glimpse of the cougar in the article below. However, to help set the stage and provide some perspective, let’s first look at the basic details of the big cats.

What is a Mountain Lion?

Cougar (cougar) It is one of the largest cats in the Americas. They belong to the Felidae (cat) family and have many common names. Depending on where you live, you might know them as cougars, pumas, cougars, or panthers. Predators are carnivores and highly skilled and elusive hunters. They prefer larger prey such as deer and elk. However, it is not uncommon for them to eat small animals such as coyotes, raccoons, and mice. Additionally, they will happily target any unprotected domestic pet or livestock.

Their size is a little hard to get around your head. People often imagine them to be much smaller (or much larger) than they really are. Cougars weigh between 80-225 pounds and are 6-9 feet long (nose to tail). Adult females are smaller, averaging 80-90 lbs. But adult males weigh an average of 140 pounds and measure an average of 7 feet from nose to tail.

Their beige or tawny fur helps camouflage them in a myriad of environments. Most of their fur is beige, but some turn a deep reddish orange. The underbelly of the cougar is white or gray. They have some black accents. Usually these appear at the end of the tail, the edges of the ears, and around the nose and eyes.

Solitary animals have very large territories. Males have a range of up to 100 square miles, while females have a range of nearly 60 square miles. They rarely come together outside of mating season. However, adult females will keep the kittens with them until they are able to strike out on their own.

Where do cougars live around the world?

Cougars live in an extremely diverse range of environments, but they all call the Western Hemisphere home. Historically, their range has stretched from the southern tip of Chile to the northern edge of the Yukon. But hunting and habitat loss have greatly reduced the overall population over the past few centuries.

Cougars still live in much of South and Central America today, although their numbers are much smaller. They also live in most of Canada. But the big cat is officially considered endangered in the north.

In the United States, the population declined rapidly in the mid to late 1800s and early 1900s. A small herd of Florida panthers, estimated at around 200 individuals, still resides in the state today. However, only 15 other states have resident mountain lion populations. No other state has a confirmed breeding population.

Cougars are not particularly picky about their environment. They roam happily in mountains, wetlands, deserts and forests. They rise along sea level to 10,000 feet above sea level. Cougars need two main ingredients.

The first is the abundance of prey. As long as the big cats have enough to eat, they will be happy to stay in an area. But they also need hiding places when stalking prey. Cougars prefer rocky, cliff-lined areas or lots of trees and bushes to hide in.

Where do cougars live in North Carolina?

This impressive animal is so common in North Carolina that many places and natural features are named after them. Oriental Cougar (Puma concolor Puma ） It is a subspecies of the mountain lion, a feline that roams the state. However, some have speculated that Florida leopards have also made their way into North Carolina.

But according to the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission (NCWRC), the state no longer has mountain lion habitat. The elusive animal was extinct in the late 1800s, following settler expansion that led to habitat destruction and hunting. No sightings have been reported for nearly a century.

Officials investigate reports of cougar sightings fairly regularly. But biologists have yet to find any physical evidence that the cats still call North Carolina home.

Mountain Lion Sightings in North Carolina

NCWRC regularly receives reports of mountain lion sightings. Most residents claim to have video evidence or have seen footprints. Biologists at the agency investigated the reports, but most were inconclusive. Some of the video evidence submitted to the agency did show the cougar. But this is footage of a mountain lion in its natural western habitat, not in North Carolina.

Most of the time, sightings turn out to be other animals. NCWRC officials have found that mangy red foxes, bobcats, coyotes, domestic dogs and cats are often mistaken for mountain lions.

There is one confirmed report of two mountain lions being spotted in Tyrrell County in the 1980s. Those cats were runaway pets. So it’s also possible that other recent sightings were caused by mountain lions escaping captivity.

However, local residents disagree with the state’s official assessment. There are so many recent sightings that a book was published about them in 1994. Panthers of the coastal plain, Charles R. “Buster” Humphries, discusses 167 mountain lion sightings. However, this figure does not reflect the state as a whole. And that’s just those events that happened within 40 miles of Wilmington. That was almost three years ago. Have the number of sightings increased over the years?

According to those who claim to have seen cougars, yes, there has been an increase in numbers. They insisted it was not a case of misidentification. Most people who say they spotted a cougar will tell you that the cat’s long, distinctive tail is visible. What they saw couldn’t have been a lynx, it had a short, blunt tail.

There has also been an increase in mountain lion sightings in neighboring states. So many North Carolina residents think it makes sense for big cats to come to their state.

Many avid and seasoned hunters insist they have encountered mountain lions while out exploring. A growing number of North Carolina residents believe the eastern mountain lion has returned. But scientists disagree. This is a debate worth watching. Nature does have a way of repairing itself.

next

• Cougar vs Cougar – What’s the Difference?
• Mountain Lion Teeth: Everything You Need to Know
• Watch a pack of dogs horn a giant mountain lion