The cougar (
Puma concolor), also commonly known as the mountain lion, puma, or catamount, is a large felid of the subfamily Felinae native to the Americas. Its range, from the
Canadian Yukon to the southern Andes of South America, is the greatest of any large
wild terrestrial mammal in the Western Hemisphere. An adaptable, generalist species, the cougar is found in most
American habitat types. It is the second heaviest
cat in the New World, after the jaguar. Secretive and largely solitary by nature, the cougar is properly considered both nocturnal and crepuscular, although sightings during daylight hours do occur. The cougar is more closely related to smaller felines, including the domestic
cat (subfamily Felinae), than to any subspecies of lion (subfamily Pantherinae), of which only the jaguar is native to the Western Hemisphere.