Meet the Mountain Lions

Here we can see the Mountain Lion Exhibit, home to Inigo and Luke. Inigo arrived from Washington State Fish & Wildlife in November of 2015 as an orphan, while Luke was also an orphan who arrived from California Fish & Wildlife in November of 2016. Mountain Lions are classified as small cat despite being the fourth largest cats in the world (behind tigers, lions, and jaguars). The distinguishing feature between small and large cats is the ability to purr: small cats can purr, while large cats can not. Mountain Lion sounds include purrs, chirps, growls, and screams. Mountain Lions go by more names than any other animal, such as how they are also called panthers, pumas, cougars, catamounts, screamers, and more. Mountain Lions live in every ecosystem in the Americas, from mountains to deserts to swamps, and they are loners and stalkers who use stealth to hunt and ambush prey. They are crepuscular, which means they are active at dawn and dusk, and when living alongside humans they rarely make their presence known. Mountain Lions can jump 18 feet vertically and 25 feet horizontally, and they can live 10 years in the wild, or 20 years in a zoo.