Cougars, from the lord of Sky and Thunder, Inca to the leaders and warriors of animal-like people, Cougars represent leadership and taking charge of one's life and circumstances in the most effective way. Moreover, Cougars teach decisiveness and imparts resolve, like the great hunter persevering and waiting patiently for the perfect moment to pounce.
And even throughout Marie Curie, MS. 158, there are Cougars everywhere. From MS.158's school-slogan to our school mascot, our school represents the great predator of the wild – the Cougars.
Cougars are scientifically known as ‘Puma Concolor,’ inhabiting North, Central and South America, making it the most widely distributed wild, terrestrial mammal in the Western Hemisphere, and one of the most widespread in the world. Its range spans the Yukon, British Columbia and Alberta provinces of Canada, the Rocky Mountains and areas in the Western United States. Furthermore, further throughout the South, Cougars’ habitats extends through Mexico to the Amazon Rainforest and the Southern Andes Mountains in Patagonia. Additionally, Cougars generally inhabit all forest types, lowland and mountainous deserts, and in open areas with little vegetation up to an elevation of 5,800 m (19,000 ft), where the environment has underbrush and rocky terrain which is preferable for Cougars while they hunt for food.
Cougars’ day-to-day patterns are different depending on their environment, these patterns vary from diurnally and cathemerality (applied to an activity pattern in which an animal is neither prescriptively nocturnal, nor diurnal, nor crepuscular, but irregularly active at any time of night or day, according to prevailing circumstances) to crepuscularity (relating to twilight) and nocturnality (an animal behavior characterized by activity during the night and sleeping during the day) between protected and non-protected terrain, and is apparently correlated with the presence of other predators, prey species, livestock and humans.
Cougar Facts
Cougars measure about 1.5-2.4 m (5-8 ft) long. However, although males can weight up to 68 kg(150 lb), female cougars weight up to only 45 kg (100 lb)
Although Cougars are unable to roar like Lions, Cougars can scream similarly to the scream of a human.
Natives of Puget Sound called Cougars "fire cats" and believed that each fall these felines carried fire from the Olympic mountains to Mt. Rainier, starting a forest fire as they pass.
Cougar-kittens are born with their eyes closed like the domestic cat. Moreover, the baby-blue eyes of these felines open at around two weeks and change to greenish-yellow in about 16-months.
A Cougar can jump upward 18 feet from a sitting position, whilst they can leap up to 40 feet horizontally.
In my personal opinion, I believe that MS.158’s school-slogan is the Cougar as MS.158 hopes to inspire individuals to embrace their personal power, navigate life with confidence, display great leadership amongst others, and assert their presence in the world with grace and authority. More specifically, to demonstrate how the students of MS.158 have the potential to become something great.