National Cougar Day!

National Cougar Day was June 12th and with it we wanted to share the top five things that we think Oatland's Cougars love.

#1: Mealtimes: As a carnivore, Cougars in the wild will eat a wide variety of animals. Zoos will try to mimic their diets by providing snacks like chicken, quail, rats, and the occasional venison. Keeping bones in their diets is a wonderful way to keep their teeth pearly white as they crunch on them! 

#2: Enrichment: Just like your cat at home, Cougars love a good stretch and scratch. Oatland Island keepers work hard to provide plenty of Enrichment (items that stimulate natural behaviors in animals) to keep them busy scratching, scent marking, and playing.

#3: Sleeping: Have you ever been to visit our cougars and wondered if all they do is sleep? Well, that's kinda true! Cougars spend between 15-18 hours a day napping! So when they aren't eating or playing with enrichment, you can bet your bottom dollar they'll be taking a nap!

#4: Scent Marking: Cougars can certainly be smelly! Cougars scent mark by spraying urine or rubbing scent glands on their faces on objects in their enclosure. They may also leave behind their scat in the middle of a trail or path to claim it as their own. These markings help other cougars and animals know where the cougar's territory is and where they have been recently. It may smell bad, but it gets the point across just fine. You may see the cougars making a stinky face with their mouth slightly open and their tongues slightly out! This is called a flehmen response and is helping them bring the stinky scent they smell into a special gland at the roof of their mouth called a vomeronasal organ which helps them detect pheromones and chemical signals in the air!

#5: Their Keepers: You only have to watch Olympia & Rainier respond when they see or hear a keeper coming to know that they really like them! Keepers mean great things for our cougars in the form of food, cleanliness, shelter, enrichment, and training. Keeping the wildlife interested in the world around them, respecting their boundaries, and training them to help aid in their own care are all great ways to ensure that the cougars are always happy to see our keepers! 

Oatland Island staff works hard to provide expert-level care to the wildlife and expert-level education to the guests who visit! Come visit today for your chance to learn about the wildlife you love.