Cougar Compilation

These are some of my favorite captures of cougars that I have, revealing fascinating and entertaining cougar behavior! This cougar video compilation comes from three different detection events in 2022. The first video clip is of an adult male cougar, followed by two detections later in the summer of what appears to be the same adult female cougar. Male cougars can most clearly be differentiated from females by the presence of a black, roughly quarter-sized hair tuft a few inches down from their anus (their penis sheath - cougars do not have visible external genitalia). This black hair spot is absent on females. This "spot" can sometimes be visible in trail camera footage (I'll save those videos for a later date), but not always. In the absence of that telltale sign, male and female can sometimes (but not always) be distinguished by their general physiology. From my video compilation here, note the broader, muscular shoulders, neck, and head (and apparent ear injury) in the first video, followed by the more slender shoulders, neck, and head/ear proportions in the subsequent videos. Anecdotally, females also seem to sometimes exhibit a slightly lighter coat against a more starkly white underbelly. A mature male cougar generally ranges from 140-175 lbs (a 197-lb. male was captured by WA biologists a few years ago), while females generally top out at around 110 lbs. South-central Washington, Browning Trail Cameras.