Thursday, June 3, 2010
Tuesday, June 1, 2010
Animal of the Month: The Mountain Lion
The huge 136 pound mountain lion roams America. The mountain lion is also known as a puma, cougar, and catamount. Mountain lions are carnivores, preying on deer, porcupine, coyotes, and raccoons. They tend to prey at dawn or dusk.
Mountain Lions once roamed all of America, but that was reduced in the Midwest and Eastern U.S. Hunters treasured these mountain lions, while farmers despised them for killing their livestock. Does that sound familiar? Remember back in January, the animal of the month was the wombat. Farmers didn't like wombats for destroying their fields, and farmers don't like mountain lions for killing their cows.
Mountain lions are very quiet and shy animals, rarely seen by humans. They need a lot of space to roam and live. Now, based on that information, why do you thing mountain lions will sometimes attack humans?
If you live in Pleasanton, you might remember the mountain lion spotting near Mohr Elementary School back in 2006, and then again in 2009. This endangered species has no place to roam anymore, being forced into rural areas, which then leads them to be killed because of "threatening" people, while most of the time they don't even harm anyone. It's just wrong. Here is the link for PleasantonWeekly.com on the mountain lion spotting in 2009 http://www.pleasantonweekly.com/news/show_story.php?id=1959
Fast Facts!
1. Carnivore
2. They weigh 136 lbs
3. Endangered
4. Live in the Western parts of America
Thanks to National Geographic Animal Facts: http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/mammals/mountain-lion/
Mountain Lions once roamed all of America, but that was reduced in the Midwest and Eastern U.S. Hunters treasured these mountain lions, while farmers despised them for killing their livestock. Does that sound familiar? Remember back in January, the animal of the month was the wombat. Farmers didn't like wombats for destroying their fields, and farmers don't like mountain lions for killing their cows.
Mountain lions are very quiet and shy animals, rarely seen by humans. They need a lot of space to roam and live. Now, based on that information, why do you thing mountain lions will sometimes attack humans?
If you live in Pleasanton, you might remember the mountain lion spotting near Mohr Elementary School back in 2006, and then again in 2009. This endangered species has no place to roam anymore, being forced into rural areas, which then leads them to be killed because of "threatening" people, while most of the time they don't even harm anyone. It's just wrong. Here is the link for PleasantonWeekly.com on the mountain lion spotting in 2009 http://www.pleasantonweekly.com/news/show_story.php?id=1959
Fast Facts!
1. Carnivore
2. They weigh 136 lbs
3. Endangered
4. Live in the Western parts of America
Thanks to National Geographic Animal Facts: http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/mammals/mountain-lion/
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