Stories in and around the West Virginia region especially involving the mountain lions are numerous. Most of the people relate their experiences of seeing a mountain lion or sighting one attacking their pets. Still, are they really mountain lions? And is the magnificent cat wandering still in the state? Thus, answering the questions raised above, we present the article below. However, it will be valuable to get acquainted with a few basic facts about mountain lions before proceeding with the analysis.
What Are Mountain Lions?
Mountain lions or Puma concolor is also commonly referred to as panthers, pumas, cougars and catamounts. The common name changes with the region. It was earlier known that there are fifteen sub-species of the mountain lion living originally in the Americas. Presently, there are much fewer large cats as compared to their counterparts in the past.
They are one of the largest cats in the entire Western Hemisphere and their beautiful dominating machines like beauty make them very fascinating felines. Its adult males can go up to 225 pounds and the length of this species is as much as 9 feet. But generally the weight is 140 pounds and they are almost 7 feet long excluding the tail. Females are much smaller than males, normally weighing around 80-90 pounds.
Mountain lions are animals with a very specific course of fur coloring. Most of them are of a tan or a beige color on the bodies of the swimming ladies. In any case, there are other colors that can be observed in the coats; these are nearly reddish-orange in appearance. They also possess white coloration at the ventral surface of their body and the chest while their tails, snout, and ears display a contrast color of black in slight measure.
Mountain Lion Habitat
The large cats have the greatest historical habitat extent of any mammal in Western Hemisphere. The earliest ones could be found at the bottom of the Americas stretching from South America that is Chile all the way up to Yukon. Mountain lions are versatile creatures and unlike most other big cats. Do not really care what kind of environment they are living in as long as food is plentiful. Therefore, they can be located almost in any type of environment.
They live in such biomes as forest, wetland, mountain, and grassland biomes. Most of the time, you will catch them scattering near cliffs at 10,000 feet up the mountain or crawling slowly along the ground at tide level. It is well known that mountain lions prefer places in which they will be able to hide themselves. Which makes them good hunters. That may include trees, shrubs or even cliffs and rocks.
Adult male mountain lions have a much greater home range than do adult females. Males may traverse up to 100 square miles while the female entails only up to 20-60 square miles of its habitat. And the lone animals hardly ever come into contact. Normally they only come together on two occasions which is either to mate or when a female is nursing her cubs.
Mountain Lions Historic Range in West Virginia
Once the West Virginia wilderness was home to many mountain lions. The eastern cougar which is a subspecies of the Puma concolor cougar lived in the state. And although witnessed all over the state it was more rife in the Allegheny Mountains region.
But as the settlements grew most of them were worried that mountain lions would be a threat to their livestock. Some of the counties provided incentives to anyone who would present a dead mountain lion in their jurisdictions. Details of the payments given by Randolph County were recorded in terms of the number of payments made. Between the years 1852 and 1859, directors of the shire compensated $ 73 for 73 eastern cougars.
West Virginia mountain lions were once fairly abundant throughout the region. But like several other species were forced to rare rapidly.
Avoid Getting Attacked by a Mountain Lion
As there are no natural populations of mountain lions still reproducing in the state, your chances for a wild encounter are extremely slim. However, it does not hurt being informed on some of the measures one should take to ensure his/her safety.
Mountain lions are carnivores but unlike eagles they are best at hunting especially at night and in the early morning. So it is advisable to abstain from mountain climbing or other forms of outdoor activities during the early morning or in the evening.
Your pets or any kid below the age of seven years should be near you during your explorations. And in case you are to meet a lion, you take your small friends up in order to make the lions believe that they are faced with big people.
Stand tall with your arms raised up to make yourself appear bigger and start stepping backward. There is a lot that one can advise but the most important thing to avoid is to turn your back on a mountain lion. And definitely don’t run. The large cats will PM the beneficiaries and the rest of the team for any of those actions. Which will invoke their predatory instinct.
Although, as you will not see the mountain lion in West Virginia, you do not have the chance to get attacked. But if those improbabilities happen to align, always resist; After all, what can go wrong in such a synergy? Most of the attacks made by mountain lions came to a better end as the attacked persons put up a strong fight.
