The Mountain Lion

 We have spent many hours in the outdoors in Michigan, New England States, Louisiana, Arkansas, and Texas and throughout all those years and places we have spotted a mountain lion on two occasions, In Northwest Arkansas in the 1980s and by Lake Amistad in Texas in the 1990s.  Both were good spottings up rather close, maybe 100 feet away.  The Arkansas spotting was a mother lion moving her litter with a newborn cub in her mouth.  She spotted us, stood and looked at us for about 20 seconds, and then moved on casually to her destination.  The other spotting occurred as we were walking on an old ranch road near Lake Amistad.  The road was walkable with high brush on both sides so all we could see was the road ahead.  As we rounded a bend, ahead of us was a lion casually walking in the same direction.  Since its senses are extremely keen, it probably knew we were present but did not show that it knew we were there.  Finally, the lion ducked into the tall brush alongside the road, and we never saw it again. As many might think, no, we did not tremble with fear when we encountered these two lions. 

Yes, the mountain lion is a predator, but so is man.  It's understandable that if a lion has adopted the habit of repeatably killing livestock, it should be hunted and killed but the media and the TPWD have created such a negative attitude toward the lion, an attitude of fear, that even those who have no experience of any predation are eager to kill it.   We should work to change that attitude.

Now the range of the lion in Texas is concentrated mostly in the remote areas of the Big Bend.  It is occasionally spotted in the rest of the state but not very often. The map below shows the counties where the mountain lion has been spotted, but the spottings more than likely fall short.  It's almost certain that the mountain lion exists in all Texas counties west of the 100th meridian---maybe in all counties of low population in all of the state.

The map below shows the spotting data:

Figure 24.1 Range of the Mountain Lion

The Mountain Lion has a long history of residence in North America, and for those who have never seen a mountain lion here is a photo of one that matches those we have seen.  Some photos show the lion as a gray color, but I believe all are of the tan color unless the color of the fur changes with the winter season.

Figure 24.2 Mountain Lion

For those who have seen a bobcat, the mountain lion is larger than the bobcat and more elusive.  The bobcat of course is easily identified as its tail is very short.

According to the website maintained by THE MOUNTAIN LION FOUNDATION, the lion has a range running all the way from Canada through the western USA and into Chile.  The lion has maintained that longitudinal range since records have been collected, but the latitudinal range has been shortened dramatically to that west of the Mississippi by extermination and habitat destruction.  There is a species of lion that lives in the Everglades.

Western states exhibit varying degrees of attitudes about the lion.  For example, South Dakota is considering all-out destruction of the lion whereas Colorado is considering a ban on hunting the lion.

Texas for all of its notoriety of being a safe home for many forms of wildlife has an open season on lions with the thrust of this led by Texas Parks and Wildlife.

Try visiting Mountainlion.org for more information.   Help save this great animal by not killing it for the sake of the kill.

Mountain lions are many names, including cougar, puma, catamount, painter, panther, and many more. They are the most wide-ranging cat species in the world and are found as far north as Canada and as far south as Chile.

Solitary cats,