From Chile to Connecticut: teacher key

Cougars, grade 11 edition, written for 11th grade. The cougar ranges from southern Chile to Connecticut: its names, range and size, the American cheetah relative, the Florida panther, GPS collars, hunting, kittens and one male who travelled east.

Read the book. Print this page for the key.

Questions and answers

1. Roughly how long ago did the American cheetah's lineage diverge from the puma lineage?
   • 2.6 million years ago (answer)
   • 26 years ago
   • 260 years ago
2. What does ancient DNA show about Miracinonyx trumani?
   • It was a kind of wolf
   • It was a relative of the modern puma (answer)
   • It was a bird
3. How far was one Black Hills male cougar found to have traveled before reaching Connecticut?
   • 29 kilometers
   • 290 kilometers
   • 2,900 kilometers (answer)
4. A 2012 study found Midwest confirmations steadily increasing from 1990 to 2008. What does that suggest?
   • Cougars were being confirmed more often in the Midwest (answer)
   • Cougars left the Midwest
   • No cougars were ever seen
5. What did the Santa Cruz collars record besides location?
   • The weather
   • Hunting behavior such as bursts of speed or pounces (answer)
   • The food in a den
6. What does dispersal mean?
   • Hiding
   • Purring
   • Spreading out (answer)

Words

• subspecies: a smaller kind
• lineage: a family line
• convergence: similar bodies
• subadult: nearly grown
• dispersal: spreading out
• solitary: alone