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60 free Cougar trivia questions with answers — nature quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
This cougar trivia quiz covers the cat that holds a Guinness record for having the most names: cougar, puma, mountain lion, catamount, panther, painter and dozens more. It covers where the words come from, why the puma is not a true lion, how far it ranges (110 degrees of latitude, more than any other wild land mammal in the Americas), how high it can leap, why it purrs but cannot roar, what it hunts from moose to Magellanic penguins, and how it fares against wolves, bears and jaguars. It also covers the cougar in human life: the Florida panther, the eastern cougar declared extinct, P-22 of Griffith Park and his Hollywood Sign photo, what to do (and not do) if one attacks, why hunting cougars can paradoxically increase livestock losses, and the cat's place in Inca, Cherokee and Apache belief. Every question was verified against a primary reference (mainly the Wikipedia articles on the cougar, the Florida panther, the eastern cougar and P-22) and carries a citation. Play our big cats and snow leopard quizzes next.
30 of 60 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01What is the cougar's scientific name?
Puma concolor
Linnaeus first called it Felis concolor in 1771; William Jardine moved it to the genus Puma in 1834.
Q 02The cougar holds a Guinness record for having more of what than any other animal?
Names
It has over 40 names in English alone, including puma, mountain lion, catamount, panther and painter.
Q 03The word 'cougar' ultimately comes from which language?
Tupi
It reached English via Portuguese 'çuçuarana' and French; Buffon shortened it to 'cuguar' in 1774.
Q 04The name 'puma' entered English in 1777 via Spanish from which language?
Quechua
Puma is the name used in most of Latin America and Europe and in the scientific literature.
Q 05Which name for the cougar is most commonly used in the United States?
Mountain lion
Canadians say cougar; 'mountain lion' first appeared in print in 1858.
Q 06What is 'catamount' short for?
Cat of the mountain
It has been used in English for the cougar and other wild cats since at least 1664.
Q 07In the southern United States, the cougar is sometimes called what, a corruption of 'panther'?
Painter
Panther itself is used interchangeably with cougar, puma and mountain lion.
Q 08Which two cats are the cougar's closest relatives?
The jaguarundi and the cheetah
Some studies suggest the cheetah lineage split from the puma line in the Americas and migrated back to the Old World.
Q 09How many cougar subspecies does the Cat Classification Taskforce recognise as valid as of 2017?
Two
P. c. concolor in South America and P. c. couguar in North and Central America; 32 had been proposed by the 1980s.
Q 10Cougars are what rank in size among the world's cat species?
Fourth largest
Only the tiger, lion and jaguar are bigger; males run 53-72 kg and the 1901 record was 105 kg.
Q 11Where in its range are cougars smallest?
Close to the equator
They grow larger towards the poles; jaguars, oddly, do the reverse across the Amazon.
Q 12What colour are cougar kittens' eyes at birth?
Blue
Kittens are also spotted, with ringed tails; adults are plain tawny.
Q 13How high can a cougar leap from the ground into a tree?
5.5 metres
It has proportionally the largest hind legs of any cat.
Q 14The cougar is the largest cat able to do what?
Q 21How does a cougar typically kill large prey?
A leap onto the back and a suffocating neck bite
It then drags the kill to a hidden spot, covers it with brush and returns for days.
Q 22Roughly how often does a cougar kill a large ungulate?
About every two weeks
A mother with nearly grown cubs may kill every three days.
Q 23A cougar's winter hunting success rate on elk and mule deer in central Idaho was estimated at what?
82%
In central Argentina, hunting viscachas in scrub, the figure was just 10%.
Purr
It is a member of the Felinae, not the roaring Panthera, so despite the name it is no true lion.
Q 15The cougar's range spans how many degrees of latitude, from the Yukon to southern Chile?
110
That makes it the most widely distributed wild land mammal in the Western Hemisphere.
Q 16Up to what elevation have cougars been recorded?
5,800 m
They live in every forest type, deserts and open country.
Q 17As a keystone species, the cougar interacts with roughly how many other species?
485
As predator, prey, carcass provider and competitor, it links many trophic levels.
Q 18A survey of North American research found what share of cougar prey items were ungulates?
68%
In Alberta winters that rises to over 99%; in South America it drops to about 35%.
Q 19Which unusual prey makes up most of the cougar's diet in two Patagonian national parks?
Magellanic penguins
Florida panthers, meanwhile, often prefer feral hogs and armadillos.
Q 20One New Mexico cougar was recorded killing 29 of which introduced African antelope?
Gemsbok
They made up 58% of its recorded kills; cougars also take feral horses and donkeys in the Southwest.
Q 24Which Yellowstone predator most often drives cougars off their kills?
The grizzly bear
Bears visited 24% of cougar kills in Yellowstone and Glacier and stole 10% of carcasses.
Q 25How do one-on-one confrontations between a cougar and a wolf usually go?
The cat dominates
A pack is another matter: seven to eleven wolves have killed a female cougar and her kittens.
Q 26Where cougars overlap with jaguars, what happens to cougar prey and size?
Both get smaller
The jaguar takes the larger prey, and cougars exploit a broader, smaller-prey niche.
Q 27Which mid-sized predator has been documented trying to prey on cougar cubs?
The coyote
Adult cougars readily kill coyotes, bobcats, lynx and wolverines, suppressing their numbers.
Q 28How long is a cougar's gestation?
82 to 103 days
Litters are one to six cubs, typically two, born blind in caves or alcoves.
Q 29What happens to a cougar's juveniles when she comes into heat again?
They must disperse or the male kills them
Juveniles usually stay with their mother for one to two years; males then disperse farthest.
Q 30How long do wild cougars usually live?
8 to 13 years
Captives can reach 20; an 18-year-old female was killed by hunters on Vancouver Island.