| Endangered Species: Cougar |
Christiansburg Elementary School
Submitted by: Jag, Grade 5
Christiansburg Elementary School
Christiansburg ,VA,USA
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| Cougar
Montgomery Zoo |
Why Study This Topic?
I want to find out what
the cougar eats and what does it use to catch its prey. I need to know
much it eats and how fast it can run. I'm interested in how it lives.
For example, can the cougar live in more than one habitat. I also need
to know how many cougars are left on the earth today, and how many was
their hundreds of years ago. For example, were there more cougars
then than now. I also want to know how many cougars are in zoos.
I'm interested in the cougar,
because it's a wonderful and beautiful animal. I just want to let people
see it at the zoo. I want my children to see the cougar when they're kids
and let their kids see them too. I also thing that humans should be generous
and take care of sick cougars. That way, they might live longer.
I love the cougar and hope they live for millions of more years.
What Was Already Known
I knew the cougar was in the cat family,
and it is tough. I also knew it was a carnivore, and and that it doesn't
lay eggs when it gives birth. I didn't know its color, and I didn't know
how fast it could run. The cougar is an unique animal, and I'm still learning
about it.
It's endangered because of hunters, and its enemies
in the wild. The cougar is endangered, because hunters like its fur.
The cougar shouldn't be endangered, because
it is an awesome animal, and I'm glad I got a chance to research
it.
Search for Information
I searched for information at Yahoo and many other places
on the web. A good place to find information on the Web was Searchasaurus,
I looked in the school library , but I didn't find anything. I found
more information on the Web at Ebsco host. I got most of my research on
the Internet a several different sites.
Description of Plant or Animal
The cougar is a brown cat that has some goldish honey color.
There is a tiny bit of white around its eyes and nose. The cougar can grow
to be around three and a half feet tall.
The cougar can get very close to the ground to
hunt.
My animal has very large paws and can run fast.
The cougar has a round shape of hair of white hair on its stomach. My animal
has large pointed ears on his head.
Habitat Requirements
The cougar must have plenty of food to live.
It needs to eat some smaller animals. It needs water from lakes and streams.
Since it lives in the prairie, it gets water from rivers. The cougar needs
food, but water is more important for it to survive. The cougar must
have shelter to live in. I think it lives in caves. I know it lives in
the wild, but I don't know if it can live in tall grasses and out in the
open. It needs space from its predators and some other animals.
My animal needs to stay away from hunters and other people.
Adaptations
The cougar is mostly a predator, but sometimes its
the prey. The cougar as a predator can be fearsome. It will attack small
animals such as rabbits. It will grab its prey and eat it. The cougar
can't be killed easily by an animal, but it can be shot. One of its worst
predators is people who hunt it. My animal is endangered because
of these people.
The cougar can be fooled. It will move
or run very quickly. It can move slowly, and it can move fast. The cougar
can act in a slick way to impress people and animals around it by this
cunning behavior.
Reasons for Endangerment
The cougar is endangered because of being hunted
by man. The cougar has also lost its habitat, and could have possibly been
poisoned from pollution and other types of poisons. When the cougar
eats poison, it dies. Many cougars each year are killed by
poison, or by being shot.
The cougars background is that it
is in the cat family. It has many different cousins and different animals
in its family. One of the cougars cousins is the Florida panther.
The cheetah is another distant family member. The cougar's family is scattered
all around with many different animals.
Restoration Action
Cougar actions are taken quickly. It's a smooth actioned
animal. Its movements can ajust to different speeds. My animal
will get low then spring into action trying to get its prey. The cougar
is an animal that uses a lot of action in just one day. The cougar can
run and get around fast but can't turn around fast and keep going.
The ideas for the future actions is complicated.
Some people, especially ranchers, want to kill the cougar because they
say it attacks their cattle. The government has taken action making
it illegal to kill the cougar.
What Was Learned
I learned many things about the cougar in a short
time. The cougar background has to do with many other types of cats.
The cougar has many other kinds of animals like the Florida panther and
the cheetah in its cat family.
The cougar has problems that it might not be
able to survive. People are hunting the cougar for sport and many other
things.
The cougar takes many actions, but sometimes
its lazy. It can do a lot of damage to rancher's cattle and sheep herds.
Conclusions From Research
The research benefits means what you learned. I learned cougars are
related to the Florida panther. The cougar is in the cat family.
The cougar can jump very high and run fast into the wind.
http://www.sierrasafarizoo.com/animals/cougar.htm
http://www.cptigers.org/animals/cougar.html
http://sciweb.onysd.wednet.edu/academics/science/zoology/mammalia/cat/cougar.html
Return to Mammal page.
If you would like to add to these Endangered Species
pages then email your contributions to Christiansburg
Elementary
© copyright 2000
Christiansburg Elementary |
Last updated on Januaary 25, 2000
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