Wildlife is a wonderful thing, you can't get a better experience in life than viewing wildlife in it's natural habitat. Doing the things that wild animals do to survive. One of those special wild animals is the Mountain Lion.  This big and aggressive cat is also known as a Cougar, Panther or Catamount. This beast is the Largest wild cat in North America. These large cats are quite agile and can jump as high as 15 feet and as far as 40 feet. 

Mountain Lion Diet
These large cats are not that picky when it comes on to getting their pound of flesh, as longs as they can bring it down they will eat it. They hunt deers, rabbits, beavers, squirrels, raccoon and some have been known to hunt and eat man.

Population
Mountain Lions are approximately 30,000 in numbers. But they used to double that amount. But hunters and poachers have always tried to see to our beautiful animals becoming extinct. There is a particular breed of mountain lions called Florida Panther which is dwindling out of existence as we speak. That species have a population of less that 100. 

Habitat
The Mountain lion's range is quite vast. They have the largest range of most land animals within the Western Hemisphere. Mountain Lions have habitats in America, Argentina, British Colombia, Canada, Texas, California and in Mississippi. 

Behavior
Mountain lions like any other big cat is quite territorial. They are solitary hunters and prefer to live a sharp secret life. However when the mating season arrives, they will actively seek out partners to reproduce.  They are aggressive if provoked and are quite sneaky critters.

Reproduction
After mating and the females become impregnated. She will go through a gestation period of 82-96 days. She will deliver anywhere from 2-4 kittens. The male mountain lion soul duty is simply to supply the sperm. The female is the only one of the two who actively takes care of the young. After the kittens nurse for two months and have began to fester some strength and agility, they then begin to journey with their mom. This journey is not a walk to ice cream land. During this travel with their mom, she teaches them survival skills, hunting and how to avoid being hunted. Mommy is their soul protector at this point as they may even encounter other male mountain lions who will try to kill the offspring to force the female to mate.

Mountain Lions are magnificent creatures. Once you spot one and the conditions may seem unfavorable to you, always call a ranger before trying to confront any wild animal.  

If you are in the mood to have yourself a some fried bird you had better not think ostrich. If you plan on taking on these gigantic birds you better be prepared to get some heavy kicks and picks to the head. The ostrich or common ostrich is either one or two species of large flightless birds native to Africa. There body is so heavy that their wings are unable to support their weight, they use their wings when they run to sort of maintain balance and during defense or attack.

 and On Your Marks, Get Set, Go!

There is no doubt in my mind that if you try to race an ostrich you will loose.  Ostriches are too heavy to fly, their wings just do not support their body weight. But they do make up for that with good speed. Ostriches are the fastest birds on the planet. They sprint up to speeds of 70 Kilometers per hour. They are not only top sprinters, they have good stamina as they can run a distance of 50 kilometers an hour. Talk about speed, eat your heart out cheetah! If you ever notices an Ostrich legs you will see some pretty strong and powerful muscles backed by some pretty rigid feet. Ostrich has powerful feet that gives it it's running power but are also deadly weapons. Their feet as long sharp claws and the kick from an ostrich i enough to kill man or animal.

Socialization And Mating
Ostriches like many animals group in herds of not more than a dozen. Their hierarchy is not much different than those of the hierarchy as say lions for instance. There is an alpha male who just keeps living the good life. The Alpha male picks, choose and refuse the females in the herd he wishes to mate with. While the females just sit around looking all nice and feathery just waiting for the Alpha male to strut his stuff.  The hen which the Alpha male favors or mates with more often is considered to be the dominant female in the flock or Alpha female. All other female ostriches has to show her respect. When the subordinate hens become fertilized and decides to lay a couple eggs. Those eggs are placed in the nest of the dominant hen's nest. The dominant hen and the Alpha male then take turns to hatch those ostrich eggs. Ostrich eggs are huge and probably makes one of the biggest omelets in the world. Ostrich eggs are 6 inches (15 cm) in diameter and can weigh up to 3 lbs. Now a 3lb omelet is a pretty big omelet if you ask me. These large omelets, i mean eggs hatch after 35 to 45 days incubation. The ostrich male is a pretty good father as he defends the hatch-lings and teaches them to feed. The female also does a bit of rearing of the chicklings too.

Ostrich Head In Sand Myth
I can assure you that if you see an ostrich and for some reason it becomes scared of your face, you won't be seeing it dip its head in a sand hole and leave it's entire body above ground to become bar b cued. Ostriches do not bury their heads in the sand. The old saw probably originates with one of the bird's defensive behaviors. At the approach of trouble, ostriches will lie low and press their long necks to the ground in an attempt to become less visible. Their plumage blends well with sandy soil and, from a distance, gives the appearance that they have buried their heads in the sand.