Cougars' Eating Habits Helped Them Survive Mass Extinction, Researchers Say

Cougars survived mass extinction some 12,000 years back due to their eating habits, a new study found.

The American lion and saber-toothed cat were choosier about their food and so perished during the late Pleistocene period, researchers said.

"Before the Late Pleistocene extinction, six species of large cats roamed the plains and forests of North America. Only two - the cougar and jaguar - survived. The goal of our study was to examine the possibility that dietary factors can explain the cougar's survival," said Larisa R.G. DeSantis, assistant professor of earth and environmental sciences at Vanderbilt University, according to a news release. 

Several large animals went extinct in North America during the late Pleistocene period. Hunting by humans, climate shift and disease are considered to be some of the reasons for this mass extinction.

Cougar (Puma concolor) is also known as puma, panther or the mountain lion. These cats roam from northern Canada to southern South America.

For the study, researchers used a technique called dental microwear texture analysis to study the eating habits of cougars. The method relies on a microscope that produces a 3 D image of the surface of the tooth. The wears and tears in the teeth show the diet pattern of the animal during the last few days of its life. Chewing on tender meat creates thin lines on the teeth while gnawing on bones produces deeper pits.

Researchers analyzed wear patterns in 50 living and fossilized cougars and compared it with patterns found in the teeth of extinct saber-toothed cats and American lions. The patterns were even compared to the teeth of modern carnivores such as lions and hyenas.

The team found that the dental wear pattern of cougars resembled animals that aren't picky about their eating habits. Cougars' teeth resembled the wear patterns seen in hyena teeth. Hyenas are known to devour entire animals, including bones.

Cheetah, which is a finicky eater, has dental wear patterns similar to the extinct cat species.

 "This suggests that the Pleistocene cougars had a 'more generalized' dietary behavior," DeSantis said in a news release. "Specifically, they likely killed and often fully consumed their prey, more so than the large cats that went extinct."

The study is published in the journal Biology Letters and was supported by the National Science Foundation.