Puma (Puma concolor)

Why in news?

• A recent study revealed that Puma is using a garden-to-hunt strategy; meaning they fertilise the soil in their hunting spots with their kills to attract more prey. 
• The animal carcasses of their prey are helping the animals create nutrient-rich hotspots that may continue to improve their future hunting success over time. 
• These nutrients in the soil increase plant quality and attract ungulates — large mammals with hooves.
• Decomposing ungulate carcasses deposits elevated nitrogen, carbon and other valuable elements that improve soil and plants’ chemistry and nutrient makeup.

About Puma (Puma concolor):

• Puma is a member of the family Felidae and is also called mountain lion, cougar, or catamount (archaic).
• It is a large brownish New World cat comparable in size to the jaguar.
• Habitats: Pumas live in a variety of habitats, including desert scrub, chaparral, swamps, and forests but they avoid agricultural areas, flatlands, and other habitats lacking cover (vegetative or topographic). 
• Puma has the widest distribution of any New World mammal, with a range extending from southeastern Alaska to southern Argentina and Chile.
• Conservation status
  • IUCN: Least Concern

Q1) What are Topographic maps?

Topographic maps are detailed, accurate graphic representations of features that appear on the Earth’s surface. It usually shows a geographic graticule and a coordinate grid, so you can determine the relative and absolute positions of mapped features.

Source: Secret lives of cougars: Pumas might be ‘gardening’ to attract prey to hunting hotspots

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