Staredown

Taken at the Columbus Zoo & Aquarium - Columbus, OH

This is Billy, the male cougar at the zoo watching me as I watch him. He and his sister are both guests of the zoo and were very active while I was there. In fact, Billy here seemed to like me, as he'd come stalking up from the back of the exhibit, his eyes on me and just as he got to the fence, he's start rubbing against it and purr.

Cougars are also called mountain lions, puma, panther or catamount and often live very solitary lives. Their habitat has been taken away in large chunks due to human development and hunting because they're thought to be a threat to livestock. They inhabit North and South America, though in the US they are primarily in the mountains in the west and some parts of Florida.

Submitted to *dsoden's Animal Portrait contest: [link]