PUMAS, Close Up

Meets the secretive apex predator of Patagonia in South America. On foot!

- Julien Boule

It is advisable for photographers to watch wild animals from a vehicle, a boat or a solid hide. But there is one big cat that has recently shown surprising tolerance to people on foot: the puma. Not everywhere though, just in southern Patagonian Chile! So embarking on a photographic adventure with the puma meant that I would probably be facing it from close quarters on foot, which was exciting but scary!

Known by many names in America (puma, cougar, mountain lion, and catamount) the puma is a cat species with a very long range, stretching from Alaska to southern Chile. Like the leopard it is a very adaptive cat, inhabiting cold climates, hot deserts, equatorial forests and even the famous flooded Pantanal. Wherever it is found, it has several enemies: brown bears, black bears, wolves, wolverines, and jaguars. And in places such as farmlands, where these other apex predators are few, the species has to coexist with humans. It is a tough existence, and much energy is needed to avoid these numerous threats. Of course, the puma has been studied by scientists but as it is with any elusive animal, there is always much we do not know.

There are six subspecies (a consequence of adaptation to so many different habitats) of pumas. In southern Chile, the subspecies is Puma concolor puma (previously Puma concolor patagonica) and it is the largest along with the one found in North America