Quick Answer:Mountain Lions (Pumas) are Crepuscular.

I have lived in areas that had dense populations of mountain lions. I would occasionally stumble across their cached kills, hidden under leaves and brushes.

But in all that time I lived next to these creatures, I NEVER saw one in person. They are highly secretive animals. In addition to their stealth, they are mostly active at night and during the twilight hours. This makes them crepuscular. While they spend most of the day sleeping, the twilight hours are short, and they are often active for portions of the night as well.

This means they can be considered nocturnal as well.

Most people I know that have seen one of these big cats in person stumbled upon them in the evening or morning hours. My aunt once caught one snacking on dog food (seriously) that had been left outside; She startled it when she began her morning chores, and it quickly ran off.

What Time of Day Are Mountain Lions (Pumas) Most Active?

Mountain lions (Puma) are Crepuscular and nocturnal. Their circadian rhythm means they are active during sunset and sunrise and not moving around or having much activity during the day. (Encyclopedia, 2017)

Are Mountain Lions (Pumas) Crepuscular?

Yes. Puma concolor or Mountain lions are active at twilight and dawn. The circadian clock of mountain lions has them most active during these hours.

Are Mountain Lions (Pumas) Nocturnal?

Mountain lions sleep A LOT, so they may not be active all night. But as a general rule, they are more active at night than the day.

Are Mountain Lions (Pumas) Diurnal?

No, they are not. This means they are not primarily active during daylight.

Are Mountain Lions (Pumas) Matutinal?

Yes, they are active in the early morning.

Are Mountain Lions (Pumas) Vespertine?

Yes, they are active in the evening at twilight.

Mountain Lion (Puma) Sleeping Facts

Puma’s rarely sleep in an open field. They like to bed down where trees or other landscape features provide a quick escape. In addition, a Puma’s feet have a unique skeletal structure, which helps them grip rocks and logs more easily than bears or wolves can. Much like housecats, cougars can often be seen sitting in the sunshine, especially in the cold winters that freeze over in many parts of North America. In the summer, they like to avoid the suns rays by sitting in the shade. (MCLENDON, 2018).

Where Do Mountain Lions Sleep?

They generally sleep under trees or in rocky areas. These wild cats like places where they can easily escape should a predator or competitor come nearby.

Do Mountain Lions Sleep In Trees?

It seems intuitive that they would, but I have not found any hard evidence that they do.

Mountain Lions DO certainly climb trees and spend a lot of time in trees. Heck, it’s not unusual to find a deer carcass up in a tree. Mountain lions can climb more easily than other large predator animals in North America. Trees provide a safe place to rest that is shaded in the summer and offers a good view of the surrounding territory. (Allen, 2015).

Where Are Cougars In The North American Food Chain?

Mountain lions are carnivores. They prey on a wide range of different species including moose, elk, white-tailed deer, mule deer, and smaller size animals like squirrels, muskrat, porcupine and even snails and fish. They may also prey on domestic livestock, including poultry, calves, and pigs. Deer are generally their primary source of food. (AnimalCorner, 2005).

What Effect Do Cougars Have On The Ecosystem?

Mountain lions are key species, meaning they have an essential role in their ecosystem. That is because they are top predators that need to consume a lot of meat.

Besides, they are not generally hunted by any other species except us, humans. This means they are near the top of the food chain in many ecosystems. The major exception would be bears and possibly wolves.

Cougars have a significant impact on the local population of deer. A study in British Columbia showed that mule deer population was decreasing, while white-tailed deer was increasing. The reason behind that is the mule deer were more likely to be targeted by pumas.

When prey animals like deer go without predators, they tend to overbreed and consume all the local resources – like food – that they need to survive. Predators like cougars can help avoid this population boom-bust cycle and reduce prey death due to factors such as starvation. (Shivaraju, 2003).

Facts On Baby Cougars

They are born after 91 days of pregnancy, in a den chosen by the mother. Mainly it is a large sheltered place where she can protect her cubs from predators. The average yield per female is two to three cubs. At delivery, they are born blind and depend on their mother’s milk for the first six weeks. After that, the mother lion brings food from her hunt to her offspring. After six months, they go out to hunt with her, and she teaches them how to hunt. (Marshall, 2017).

Where Do Cougars Live (Habitat Range)

Mountain lions can live in many different biomes. Some examples are montane coniferous forests, lowland tropical forests, grassland, dry brush country, swamps, terrestrial biomes desert, dune savanna, grassland, chaparral forest, rainforest scrub, forest mountains, and other more obscure habitats like suburban agricultural riparian.

Basically, they can live in any areas with adequate cover and prey.

How Long Do Most Mountain Lions (Pumas) Sleep?

I have had a hard time finding hard data on this. Most cats are lazy and sleep quite a bit.

For example, African male lions sleep up to 20 hours a day while females sleep up to 14 to 18 hours. Males have no role but to defend the pride, but females, they are responsible for hunting food and bringing it to their babies and to the males. (Sleep.org, 2018) (Barton, 2017).

But be careful assuming cougars behave the same way as African lions. We can look at other cat species to assume that cougars probably sleep quite a bit, but we still need hard tracking data to know for sure.

Conclusion

Mountain lions are amazing animals to study. They are the wild version of your cat at home – assuming you have one. Hopefully, you now have a sense of the significant impact they leave on the environment.

It’s just so compelling that they have this impact DESPITE the fact that they are awake just few hours in the day. This teaches us a valuable lesson: that impact is not affected by the number of hours you are awake, but it’s instead influenced by the magnitude of your actions while awake.


References
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Available at: http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Cougar
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Marshall, H., 2017. Facts on Baby Cougars. [Online]
Available at: https://sciencing.com/baby-cougars-8582162.html
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MCLENDON, R., 2018. Like your pet cat, pumas are peculiar about where they sleep. [Online]
Available at: https://www.mnn.com/earth-matters/animals/blogs/mountain-lions-sleeping-sites
[Accessed 12 Dec 2018].
Shivaraju, T. D. a. A., 2003. Puma concolor. [Online]
Available at: https://animaldiversity.org/accounts/Puma_concolor/
[Accessed 12 Dec 2018].