Costa Rican Puma

The Costa Rican Puma (Puma concolor costaricensis)

Citations

Biology

Physical description: Tropical pumas are smaller than North America's. On average, the weight of the species is 110 lbs. They have round heads and straight ears. Their tails are about sixty to seventy centimeters long.

Diet: The Costa Rican Puma hunts medium to small game. Their diet usually consist of monkeys, rats, and other small animals.

Reproduction: When a female is in heat, a couple will engage in sexual intercourse 50 to 70 times a day. The female will be pregnant for about three months until she produces on average 2-6 cubs.

The life span of the species is 9 years on average in the wild.

The position of the puma in the food web is high since it haves few if any predators.

http://www.anywherecostarica.com/flora-fauna/mammal/puma (slide 2,3)

http://www.ecointeractivevacations.com/index.php/costa-rica-eco-travel-vacation-information-videos-articles-/224-pumas-in-costa-rica (slide 3)

http://www.waterfallgardens.com/jungle_cats_puma.php (slide 4)

http://www.worldatlas.com/webimage/countrys/camerica.htm (slide 5)

http://metro.co.uk/2011/08/16/pictures-animal-self-portraits-3047513/volcan-barva-costa-rica-puma-concolor-cougar/ (slide 7)

http://ccmacg.wikispaces.com/Howler+Monkey (slide 7)

http://travel.mongabay.com/peru/images/manu_0728.html (slide 7)

http://www.curacaochronicle.com/health/banana-very-interesting-facts/ (slide 7)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boa_constrictor (slide 7)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jaguar (slide 7)

http://gifts.worldwildlife.org/gift-center/gifts/Species-Adoptions/Three-toed-Sloth.aspx (slide 7)

http://www.cakitches.com/general/ficus-aurea.html (slide 7)

http://www.allposters.com/-sp/Browh-Hooded-Parrots-Eating-Bananas-Pionopsitta-Haematotis-Laguna-Del-Lagarto-Costa-Rica-Posters_i9004276_.htm (slide 7)

http://www.costaricaexpeditions.com/AboutCR/tempchart.php (slide 6)

http://ecos.fws.gov/speciesProfile/profile/speciesProfile.action?spcode=A062 (slide 2)

(video on slide 4)

http://www.wildernessclassroom.com/www/schoolhouse/rainforest_library/animal_library/puma.htm (slide 4)

http://www.logodesignlove.com/literal-logos (background)

An adaptation of the puma is there ability to live in different areas. They can make homes in trees, dens, and on the ground.

Food Web

Costa Rican Puma

Jaguar

Browh-hooded Parrots

Boa Constrictor

Howler Monkey

Preservation

Three-toed Sloth

The Costa Rican Puma is important to the tropical environment. The puma mostly preys on herbivores. Without the pumas, the herbivores would most likely begin to overpopulate. As a result, the herbivores would run out of food for the large population and invade other ecosystems and farmlands.

These pumas are protected under Wildlife Conservation Law No. 7.317 in Costa Rica. Although, efforts to preserve the species are not very common.

Bananas

Canopy Leaves

Ficus Aurea

Ways to preserve this species would be greater penalties for people that kill them. Also, allowing them more space to live.

Most people seem to not be very concerned with saving the species. This is possibly because there are many different kinds of puma throughout the Americas.

Climatogram

Issues

Range/ Biome

The Costa Rican Puma is endangered anywhere found in the world. These pumas are mainly endangered from habitat loss as a result of deforestation as well as hunting. The species was placed on the endangered species list in 1976. Although, the population of these pumas seems to be unknown. The number of the species in captivity also seems to be unknown as conservation efforts are not very common.

This type of puma can be found in

countries such as Costa Rica, Panama,

and Nicaragua. The species can live in

environments that are over 2,000 ft

all the way down to sea level. The puma can live in areas from coniferous forest to tropical forest.