The cougar, also known as puma or mountain lion is thought to be gone from this area's forests. Pennsylvania's last known wild eastern mountain lion was killed in Berks County in 1874. And, except for Florida, the eastern mountain lion is believed to have been extirpated from the East Coast by 1900. But over the years, mountain lion sightings have been reported more and more often throughout the state.
Capable as both a stalk-and-ambush and chase predator, the cougar pursues a wide-range of prey. Its primary food is deer but it also hunts insects, mice and rabbits, domestic cats and dogs,and also other large game such as livestock, and rarely hikers and geocachers. Attacks on humans are rare, but do occur, especially as humans encroach on wildlands and impact the availability of the cougar's traditional prey. As with many animals, a cougar may attack if cornered, if a fleeing human being stimulates its instinct to chase, or if a person mistakenly "plays dead." Exaggerating the threat to the animal through intense eye contact, loud but calm shouting, and any other action that makes a person appear larger and more menacing, may make the animal retreat; fighting back with sticks and rocks may also cause a cougar to disengage. Though quite capable of sprinting, the cougar is typically an ambush predator. It will stalk through brush and trees, across ledges, or other covered spots, before delivering a powerful leap onto the back of prey and a suffocating neck bite.
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