Once Thought Loners, Cougars Revealed to Have Rich Society

For decades, the cougar (Puma concolor) has been thought of as a loner predator, running across other members of its species only to mate or to fight. But a new study now shows that, contrary to popular belief, cougars have quietly built for themselves a rich, hierarchical society based largely on sharing food--a find that stands to upend scientists' preconceptions about one of the Americas' most iconic big cats. "For more than 60 years of intensive research... we have said that [cougars] are solitary, robotic killing machines," says Mark Elbroch, lead scientist for the Puma Program at Panthera, the global wild cat conservation organization. "Instead, what we have unveiled is a secretive animal with a complex social system completely built on reciprocity. "That flies in the face of everything we ever thought about this animal," he adds. "I thought it was really exciting research--we usually assume that these animals aren't social," adds Justine Smith, a postdoctoral researcher at the ...