Mountain Lion: Do Cougars Really Scream Like a Person?

Q: How far can a mountain lion jump?

Up to about 9 m (30 ft) in a single bound, and 4 to 5 m (about 15 ft) straight up, according to the National Park Service. Those powerful hind legs power the cougar's stalk-and-pounce ambush, which is why the Wilder card has Ambush.

Species deep dive · mountain lion

Yes. Mountain lions can scream, and it really can sound like a person wailing in the dark. The National Park Service describes the call as "an almost human sounding wail uttered by females in heat". It's mostly a female telling males she is ready to mate. It is not a hunting cry or a threat (NPS Klamath Network; NPS Bryce Canyon).

Biologists call this scream a caterwaul. It's one of the strangest sounds in North American woods, and it has earned the mountain lion (Puma concolor), also called the cougar or puma, a spooky reputation. This Halloween week, sheriffs in New Mexico and Kansas have been warning residents about mountain lion sightings (KFDA NewsChannel 10; FOX4 Kansas City), so here is what that sound in the night really is.

A cat that screams but can't roar

Mountain lions can't roar like African lions or tigers. Yosemite National Park puts it simply: they are "unable to roar but can vocalize a penetrating scream" (NPS Yosemite). Besides the scream, cougars hiss, growl and purr (NPS Klamath Network). Our piece on which big cats can roar explains why.

Hollywood often gets this wrong. Film crews tend to dub in the roar of a big cat, or the call of an agitated mountain lion, because it sounds more dramatic (Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County).

Who is screaming, and why

The caterwaul is a love song, at least by cougar standards. Bryce Canyon National Park says that in the breeding season "the famous scream of the female lion may be heard", and that the scream is used to attract a male (NPS Bryce Canyon).

Camera traps have backed this up. In California's Santa Cruz Mountains, researchers filmed 762 mountain lion visits to "community scrapes", the shared spots where cougars leave scent marks. Adult females caterwauled on 9.3% of their visits. Adult males caterwauled on just 0.4% of theirs, and young cougars never did (Allen et al. 2014). In a follow-up study at 29 community scrapes, females caterwauled during 28.2% of their visiting bouts. Those bouts seemed to line up with being in heat (Allen et al. 2015).

The scream also seems to work. On three occasions in that study, a male turned up at a scrape outside his normal home range while a female was visiting. The researchers suggest she may have been advertising across long distances by caterwauling (Allen et al. 2015).

Built to carry

One camera recorded a female caterwauling for 14 seconds. Each call lasted about 1.9 seconds, the longest of any puma sound the researchers measured, and swept across a wide range of pitches, from about 0.1 to 5 kHz. That broad, wavering sound probably helps it carry far enough to reach every male in the area (Allen et al. 2016).

The same study sorted puma sounds into two groups. Attention-grabbing calls are the caterwaul and the mew that cubs use to beg from their mother. Calls include contact, agitated and alarm calls, which are narrower in pitch and meant for cougars close by (Allen et al. 2016). Even L.A.'s famous male cougar P-22 was once filmed calling. His call was a short, high-pitched chirp or whistle, a contact call rather than a scream (Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County).

Why you will rarely hear one

Calling out is risky for a solitary predator, so mountain lions mostly "talk" in silence. Scraping with the hind feet and leaving urine on the scrape is their most common way of communicating (Allen et al. 2014). Adult males scraped on 78.5% of their visits to community scrapes. Females mostly sniffed and investigated, sizing up the local males (Allen et al. 2014).

Unlike many cats in cold climates, which breed only in a short window, pumas can mate at any time of year (Allen et al. 2014; NPS Bryce Canyon). So a caterwaul is possible in any month, Halloween included.

Was it a cougar or a fox?

Plenty of "screaming woman in the woods" stories turn out to be a fox. The red fox's scream "is often mistaken for a human in distress", and it is mostly a mating call heard in January (The Mammal Society). Outside the Americas, a mountain lion is off the list entirely. Inside cougar country, timing is a clue: fox screams peak in January, while a cougar can caterwaul in any month.

Should a scream worry you?

A caterwaul is a cat looking for a mate, not a cat stalking you. Attacks on people are rare. California's official list of verified attacks counts 30 victims since 1890, six of them killed (California Department of Fish and Wildlife). If you do meet one, Yosemite's advice is: never run, make yourself look big, keep eye contact, pick up small children, and fight back if attacked (NPS Yosemite).

On the Wilder card

In Wilder the Mountain Lion is an Uncommon Mammalia card in the Forest element. It costs 5 Energy, with Attack 5 and Health 4, and has Ambush and Feast (Feast: +1/+1). Ambush suits a cat that would much rather stay silent and unseen than scream. Its flavour text reads: "A ghost with claws." To learn about its many names and huge range, read Mountain Lion: The Americas' Ghost Cat of Many Names.

Wilder is a free browser collectible card game about real animals, and you can play it free in your browser with no signup.

Photo credit

Hero photograph: National Park Service, "Female Mountain Lion in Verdugos" (an uncollared adult female mountain lion photographed at night by a motion-sensor camera in the Verdugo Mountains, with the lights of Los Angeles behind her, 2016), Wikimedia Commons.jpg), public domain (U.S. federal government work). Cropped for the Field Journal hero.

Questions people ask

How long do mountain lions stay together after mating?

Only a few days. Once a female has chosen a mate, the two stay together for several days, hunting and playing until she is ready to mate (NPS Bryce Canyon). The National Park Service's Klamath Network describes it as a brief bond of about 10 days, after which the female raises the kittens alone (NPS Klamath Network).

When are mountain lion kittens born?

Usually in summer, but it can be any time of year. Gestation lasts about 13 to 14 weeks, and a female typically has 2 to 3 kittens between April and September (NPS Klamath Network). In the western US, kittens are usually born in June or July (NPS Bryce Canyon). The young stay with their mother for 1 to 2 years.

Are there mountain lions in the eastern United States?

Hardly any. Cougars once ranged from coast to coast, but predator control wiped them out of most of eastern North America, apart from remnant populations (NPS Klamath Network). Western populations appear stable, and the same source notes cougars are expanding back into eastern North America. See the Mountain Lion card.

How far can a mountain lion jump?

Up to about 9 m (30 ft) in a single bound, and 4 to 5 m (about 15 ft) straight up, according to the National Park Service. Those powerful hind legs power the cougar's stalk-and-pounce ambush, which is why the Wilder card has Ambush.