Cougars (Puma concolor) are a large cat that goes by many names: panther, catamount, puma, and mountain lion, just to name a few of their over forty common English names. They were once a common predator in Pennsylvania until a combination of range-wide habitat loss, prey loss (mainly white-tailed deer and elk), and predator eradication programs in the 1800s drove them to extinction in the Commonwealth and across the East Coast later that century.

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