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- Mountain lion, cougar, puma, panther, painter, and catamount are all different names for the same animal (Puma concolor).
- Although common at the time of European settlement, the last known historical specimen in Missouri was killed in the Bootheel area in 1927.
- The nearest known populations of mountain lions are in Wyoming, Colorado, North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, and Texas. However, confirmed reports of mountain lions have increased in several states near Missouri.
- In states with known mountain lion populations, the cats are seldom seen but do leave signs in the form of tracks, scrapes, scat, and prey kills.
- Mountain lions primarily prey on ungulates, such as deer and elk, but will also prey on a range of medium to small bird and mammal species. “Black panthers” are not native to North America, but they do exist as melanistic (black color) phases of the leopard (Panthera pardus) found in Africa and Asia and the jaguar (Panthera onca) of Mexico and Central and South America. Across the distribution of mountain lions, Canada to South America, a melanistic lion has never been recorded.
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Melanistic Jaguar
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Melanistic Leopard