Chad Frye’s beautiful artwork today prompted some discussion regarding pumas. I chimed in and suggested that the cat in the image was a cougar or a mountain lion. Yes, well, it seems all three are the same.
I started to catch on when I went on a hunt for photos of each of the three cats. With each search, the same photos came up for pumas, cougars and mountain lions. Odd. These people must not be very careful about their imagery, I thought. But ever so slowly, Hammy (the hamster on the wheel in my head) awakened, sipped some coffee and mounted his wheel. Ahhhh, perhaps these three names refer to one animal.
Wikipedia confirmed it. And so did the San Diego Zoo and BBC. It’s good to learn something new each day. Helps fight dimensia.
So now I can’t stop thinking about how super cool it is that we have Pumas and Cougars (remembering that they are one and the same) in California! How junglish. I get to experience smog AND sharks AND gangs AND pumas. What do you have in your town?
While driving my Toyota Highlander (hybrid of course) and listening to NPR and wearing my sundress I can still validly claim to be living on the edge. I always felt in my heart like I was a daredevil, but this cougar thing validates my hunch. Cue Dangerous Beauty by the Rolling Stones (ironically I think that song is about a “cougar“) (I am not a “cougar” — I’m too young and too married) (plus I find the term demeaning to women) (let’s not talk about “cougars” – who brought that up?).
I think I’ll walk to the drugstore and buy some vitamins. Why? Because I love danger!!
Yes, I learned this recently too–why the different names? Puma and cougar both sound like official titles (mountain lion, admittedly, just sounds like a yokel name for a big cat they cannot otherwise identify).
I’m still trying to figure out what defines something as an ocean–what separates the Atlantic from the Pacific (aside from the Americas), the Pacific from the Arctic, etc…because I’m still blown away by the fact that there’s now a 5th ocean (see my recent blog post).
… and where does Europe end and Asia begin? And who decided?
5th ocean? I need to watch more news. Off to check your blog. ;o)