Editing Cougar (section)

==Distribution and habitat==
[[File:Puma concolor camera trap Arizona 2.jpg|thumb|A [[camera trap]] image of a cougar in [[Saguaro National Park]], [[Arizona]]]]

The cougar has the most extensive range of any wild land animal in the Americas, spanning 110 degrees of [[latitude]] from the Yukon in Canada to the southern Andes in Chile.<ref name="iucn" /> The species was extirpated from eastern North America, aside from Florida, but they may be recolonizing their former range and isolated populations have been documented east of their contemporary ranges in both the Midwestern US and Canada.<ref>{{cite journal |author1=Morrison, C. D. |author2=Boyce, M. S. |author3=Nielsen, S. E. |year=2015 |title=Space-use, movement and dispersal of sub-adult cougars in a geographically isolated population |journal=PeerJ |volume=3 |pages=e1118 |doi=10.7717/peerj.1118 |pmid=26290786 |pmc=4540023 |doi-access=free}}</ref>

The cougar lives in all forest types, lowland and mountainous deserts, and in open areas with little vegetation up to an elevation of {{cvt|5800|m}}.<ref name="iucn" /> In the [[Santa Ana Mountains]], it prefers steep canyons, escarpments, rim rocks and dense brush.<ref>{{cite journal |author1=Dickson, B.G. |name-list-style=amp |author2=Beier, P. |year=2007 |title=Quantifying the influence of topographic position on cougar (''Puma concolor'') movement in southern California, USA |journal=Journal of Zoology |volume=271 |issue=3 |pages=270–277 |doi=10.1111/j.1469-7998.2006.00215.x |citeseerx=10.1.1.571.8947}}</ref> In Mexico, it was recorded in the [[Sierra de San Carlos]].<ref>{{cite journal |author1=Caso, A. |name-list-style=amp |author2=Domínguez, E. F. |year=2018 |title=Confirmed presence of jaguar, ocelot and jaguarundi in the Sierra of San Carlos, Mexico |journal=Cat News |issue=68 |pages=31–32}}</ref> In the [[Yucatán Peninsula]], it inhabits [[secondary forest|secondary]] and semi-[[deciduous]] forests in [[El Eden Ecological Reserve]].<ref>{{cite journal |author1=Ávila-Nájera, D. M. |name-list-style=amp |author2=Chávez, C. |author3=Pérez-Elizalde, S. |author4=Guzmán-Plazola, R. A. |author5=Mendoza, G. D. |author6=Lazcano-Barrero, M. A. |year=2018 |title=Ecology of ''Puma concolor'' (Carnivora: Felidae) in a Mexican tropical forest: adaptation to environmental disturbances |journal=Revista de Biología Tropical |volume=66 |issue=1 |pages=78–90 |doi=10.15517/rbt.v66i1.27862 |doi-access=free}}</ref> In [[El Salvador]], it was recorded in the lower montane forest in [[Montecristo National Park]] and in a river basin in the [[Morazán Department]] above {{cvt|700|m}} in 2019.<ref>{{cite journal |author1=Morales-Rivas, A. |name-list-style=amp |author2=Álvarez, F. S. |author3=Pocasangre-Orellana, X. |author4=Girón, L. |author5=Guerra, G. N. |author6=Martínez, R. |author7=Pablo Domínguez, J. |author8=Leibl, F. |author9=Heibl, C. |year=2020 |title=Big cats are still walking in El Salvador: first photographic records of ''Puma concolor'' (Linnaeus, 1771) and an overview of historical records in the country |journal=Check List |volume=16 |issue=4 |pages=563–570 |doi=10.15560/16.3.563 |doi-access=free}}</ref>
In [[Colombia]], it was recorded in a [[palm oil]] [[plantation]] close to a [[riparian forest]] in the [[Llanos Basin]], and close to water bodies in the [[Magdalena River Valley]].<ref>{{cite journal |author1=Olarte-González, G. |name-list-style=amp |author2=Escovar-Fadul, T. |author3=Balaguera-Reina, S.A. |year=2015 |title=First record of ''Puma concolor'' Linneus, 1771 (Carnivora: Felidae) preying ''Odocoileus virginianus'' (Zimmermann, 1780) on a palm-oil plantation in the Meta department, Colombia |journal=Mammalogy Notes |volume=2 |issue=1 |pages=8–10 |doi=10.47603/manovol2n1.8-10 |doi-access=free}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |author1=Boron, V. |name-list-style=amp |author2=Xofis, P. |author3=Link, A. |author4=Payan, E. |author5=Tzanopoulos, J. |year=2020 |title=Conserving predators across agricultural landscapes in Colombia: habitat use and space partitioning by jaguars, pumas, ocelots and jaguarundis |journal=Oryx |volume=54 |issue=4 |pages=554–563 |doi=10.1017/S0030605318000327 |doi-access=free}}</ref>
In the human-modified landscape of central Argentina, it inhabits [[bushland]] with abundant vegetation cover and prey species.<ref name=Guerisoli2019>{{cite journal |author1=Guerisoli, M. D. L. M. |author2=Caruso, N. |author3=Luengos Vidal, E. M. |name-list-style=amp |author4=Lucherini, M. |year=2019 |title=Habitat use and activity patterns of ''Puma concolor'' in a human-dominated landscape of central Argentina |journal=Journal of Mammalogy |volume=100 |issue=1 |pages=202–211 |doi=10.1093/jmammal/gyz005 |doi-access=free |hdl=11336/104140 |hdl-access=free}}</ref>