Mountain Lions

Objectives:

• Students will be able to describe the physical characteristics of mountain lions.

• Students will be able to identify the behavioral characteristics of mountain lions.

• Students will be able to explain how mountain lions live socially.

Suggested Grades:

3rd Grade - 4th Grade - 5th Grade

Lesson Procedure:

Print the reading comprehension worksheet passage and questions (see below).

Students should read the passage silently, then answer the questions. Teachers may also use the text as part of a classroom lesson plan.

Lesson Excerpt:

Mountain lions are large cats with solid-colored coats. They have long, heavy tails and their coats are usually a tan color. They are slender and very agile animals that can climb rocks and find their way into narrow crevices. Mountain Lions are thought to have more than 40 different names. Some examples are cougar, puma, panther and catamount. They have so many names because they are found in almost every part of the western hemisphere from the Yukon in northern Canada to South America. These cats are loners who avoid each other for the most part. Males and females meet to breed, and young mountain lions stay with their mothers for about a year and a half to two years before they go off on their own. Baby mountain lions are born with spots, but the spots disappear soon after the cubs are born. An adult male mountain lion weighs between 110 and 180 pounds and females weigh between 80 to 130 pounds. This makes them about the same weight as humans.

Continued...