Eastern cougar declared extinct

NO ANIMAL has as many names as the ‘American lion’. According to the Guinness Book of Records, there are over 40.

The world’s fourth largest cat, however, is not a particularly close relative of the king of beasts; it’s more like an extra-large version of your domestic pussy. Scientists argue as to how many races should be recognised but now there is one less to worry about; the ‘eastern cougar’ has been declared extinct by the US Fish and Wildlife Service.

The ‘mountain lion’, ‘puma’ or ‘panther’ is one of the most widely distributed wild mammals in North and South America. It is found from the Yukon to Argentina. Creamy brown, like a slim African lioness, the cougar is about as heavy as an average-sized man. A nocturnal predator, very rarely seen in daylight, it hunts creatures as small as rabbits and as big as horses.