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Mountain Lion

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Submitted By nessgarcia1300
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Mountain Lion
The topic I chose to research is a mountain lion because I find them to be an interesting living mammal. I have three cats at home and wanted to research the correlation that the mountain lion and cats share. Mountain lions affect society in way that they are an endangered set of mammals because they are known to attack people and children. They once roamed nearly all of the United States. They were prized by hunters and despised by farmers and ranchers who suffered livestock losses at their hands. This has changed my view of science by looking at the mountain lion in a biological, physiological, psychological way.
Anatomy
The mountain lion is the largest cat native to North America. Their head is small and they have a short and round face while their neck and body are elongated and narrow. The mountain lion is that their hind legs are longer than their front legs in which they utilize for running and jumping. The mountain lion has a long spinal column, which provides an increase lumbar flexation when they run. Adult mountain lions are a plain colored cat. Their color can vary from grey to dark brown to tawny and buff cinnamon red depending on the geographical location that they reside in. The tail is long, cylindrical with lots of hair. The muzzles are black located on the sides. Their upper lip, chin, and throat are whitish. The tail is the same color as body, except for the tip, which is either dark brown or black. Male mountain lions are usually larger than females measuring larger than 8 feet while females can measure greater than 7 feet total including the tail. Males can weigh between 130-150 pounds and females weighing 65-90 pounds. The mountain lion is connected to science because it’s connected to the wildlife and is a physiological aspect.
Reproduction
The mountain lion does not have a definite breeding season. Although, mountain lions can mate at any given time. However, in North America there are records of births in every month, although the vast majority of births occur in late winter and early spring. Birth weigh of a mountain lion is between 226 to 453 grams. This is related in a biological way to science as generating the species.

Breeding
The female mountain lion is in heat for approximately 9 days. After a gestation period of 90 to 96 days, one to five young (usually three or four) are born. Female mountain lions usually give birth every other year. After six cycles without mating, the female has a rest for about two months before coming into estrous again. A mountain lion in the wild will not mate until it has established a home territory. When the female mountain lion is in heat, she vocalizes freely and frequently rubs against nearby objects. Male mountain lions remain reproductively active to at least 20 years of age whereas, the females to 12 years of age. This related to a biological science in that natural life and growth of breeding among themselves.
Food Consumption
The mountain lion are carnivore eaters while eating moose, white-tailed deer and they will also eat small creatures like squirrels, mice, porcupine, beavers, raccoons, striped skunk, coyotes, birds, and even snails and fish. They developed a taste for poultry, sheep’s and pigs as well. Mountain lions have a unique manner for hunting larger prey. The lion first maneuvers to within 15 meters of the prey, then leaps on its back while breaking the animals neck with a powerful bite located below the base of the skull. Yearly food consumption is between 860 60 1,300 kilograms of large prey animals. This relates to science in a way of the food chain mechanism because mountain lions are carnivore eaters and they move from a larger animal to a smaller animal if they need to hunt for what is there.
Mountain lions have a wide range of vocals ranging from purrs, meows, hisses, growls, spits, and screams. Mountain lions do not roar related to the structure of the voice box and therefore, produces a high-pitched scream. This relates to science in connection with behavior and how these mammals react to internal and external stimuli.

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