The Beautiful Mountain Lion Trivia Quiz

Answer: they hunt a variety of prey

Mountain lions are known to hunt a huge variety of prey. Their main prey is different species of deer, but also includes raccoons, coyotes, elk, porcupines, insects, muskrats, beavers, squirrels, badgers, bighorn sheep, and mountain goats.

Answer: False

Attacks on humans are actually rare. From 1890 to 2018, there were 127 recorded attacks on humans in North America, of which only 27 proved fatal. Of the fatal attacks, many were children. Prey recognition is a learned behaviour, so they don't usually recognize humans as prey.

Answer: True

Although mountain lions have no natural predators, they do compete for some of the same food sources as grizzly bears and grey wolves. In those situations, the sheer size of the grizzlies and numbers of wolves can injure or drive away the mountain lion.

Answer: Bullrush cat

The mountain lion holds the Guinness World Record for the animal with the most common names. In fact, there are over 40 different names including panther, painter, silver lion, sneak cat, fire cat, silver lion, and many others. The reason for this lies with the fact that mountain lions have a huge range, from the northern Yukon to the Southern Andes.

This range encompasses many different cultures, each with its own name for the mountain lion.

Answer: False

Mountain lions are considered to be the largest of the world's small cats. As with all small cats, mountain lions are not able to roar but they can purr. The reason for this is that the hyoid bone in small cats is completely ossified, allowing for purring, whereas in large cats, the hyoid bone is only partially ossified, which allows them to roar.

Answer: Make noise, make yourself look big, maintain eye contact, be aggressive

Scream, shout, bang what you have on hand, make yourself appear larger, wave your arms, act confident and unafraid. Also, throw branches or stones, and give the animal some space to get away. Absolutely never run away from a mountain lion. They are predators and can easily outrun a person!

Answer: False

They are known to leave piles of faeces and scratch on trees, as well as urinate on piles of leaves. The territories of females occasionally overlap, but those of males don't. If males were to meet in the wild, they would fight aggressively, possibly to the death.

Answer: Their diet is entirely meat.

I hope you didn't choose chewing their cud! Another term for obligate carnivores is "true carnivores". Obligate carnivores' diet is comprised solely of meat as they obtain all the necessary nutrients from that. Mountain lions can ingest small amounts of plant material, but they don't have the required physiology to digest it. Obligate carnivores have to eat meat as they cannot obtain sustenance from any other type of food.

Answer: bury it with leaves and sticks

Mountain lions typically kill their prey by pouncing on the back of the animal and biting their necks. Their prey suffocates. When the mountain lion has finished eating, they usually bury the kill so they can come back later and eat.

Answer: True

Like most cats, mountain lions are solitary creatures with the exceptions of brief mating sessions as well as mothers with their cubs. The cubs stay with their mothers until they are about two years old.