# How they feed cougars at the zoo



## Lunasong (Mar 15, 2011)

I went to the zoo today because the weather was so nice. I was alone, so I got to enjoy it at my own pace. I happened to observe feeding time at the cougar (mountain lion, puma, catamount) compound.









There are two cougars in the enclosure. First the handler removes the cougars from the compound (I didn't see how she did this). Then she enters the pen with a large pan of ground meat, and puts meat in about 10 stations around the enclosure. Each station has a little bowl to hold the meat, and a trap door that shuts to hide it. Then the handler enters her secure area and lets one animal out. She sounds a little tone like a buzzer at one station and the cougar goes to that station; she remotely opens the trap door, and the cougar eats the meat out of the little bowl. She does this rather quickly in succession for each station; then, after the last station, she sounds another tone and the cougar runs to re-enter its secure area (and probably gets another feeding; I didn't see this). The handler repeats the process with the second cougar.

Finally the handler divides the leftover meat into two piles right in front of the viewing area. She retreats to her secure area and lets both big cats out. They rush the glass and eat right in front of us!

I was wondering if we could train our housecats this same way...


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## Ukko (Jun 4, 2010)

That seems like a lot of work for feeding housecats.

What interests me about your experience is that in the wild cougars are not sociable; they live alone except when mating.


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## Lunasong (Mar 15, 2011)

It was two males in the compound; your comment made me wonder if zoos neuter their animals. The consensus on-line seems to be that zoos do not but wild animal parks do.
Was two males in the African lion compound also...and they were sleeping kind of cozy.


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## Ukko (Jun 4, 2010)

Lunasong said:


> It was two males in the compound; your comment made me wonder if zoos neuter their animals. The consensus on-line seems to be that zoos do not but wild animal parks do.
> Was two males in the African lion compound also...and they were sleeping kind of cozy.


Male lions from the same litter tend to get along, while they are bachelors anyway. Lions have a different social arrangement than cougars do.


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## Fsharpmajor (Dec 14, 2008)

Hilltroll72 said:


> What interests me about your experience is that in the wild cougars are not sociable; they live alone except when mating.


It seems to me that the procedure is designed to avoid disputes between the two animals over territory, by making their "territory" and its food supply temporally separate, rather than spatially separate. Once they've each had a fair share of the meat, they can be trusted to finish off the rest of it together without fighting.


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## emiellucifuge (May 26, 2009)

Male lions from the same litter often stay together their entire lives. This increases their strength and therefore chances of gaining a territory and mating females. Even once they have a pride they will peacably co-habitate and serve females on a first-come first-serve basis without conflict.

This is definitely not the case with cougars, who share a social structure more like that of leopards, with solitary males possessing a territory overlapping that of a few solitary females.

Perhaps the purpose of this feeding method is simply to get some excercise, but I can only speculate. I dont have any ideas about the two males living together, but I will comment that most zoos in Europe do not neuter as breeding programs make up an important part of their _raison d'etre_


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## Lunasong (Mar 15, 2011)

The cougars on display are birth brothers and approx 1.5 years old. Here they are as babies, so cute.


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