Up in a Flash

Once again in the area west of the entrance to Glacier National Park, we encountered a mountain lion which quickly left its cover and leaped up a tree.  

Notice its long, cylindrical tail accounting for about 1/3 of its total overall length.  The tail assists greatly in maintaining balance.

These cats are stealth predators and prefer to ambush their prey.  They are carnivores and while they prefer deer, they will eat smaller animals.

They can jump more than 15 feet vertically, around 45-50 feet horizontally and can run at speeds of 50mph.  Let's be realistic, it's a good thing they prefer deer as we would neither outrun or out jump them.

Don't plan on being alerted by a roar like other big cats as mountain lions have a series of sounds they use to vocalize like purring, hissing and even chirping.