Wild Pumas of Patagonia

[fiznatty]

The main goal of my May return to Patagonia was to find and photograph pumas. I've had my share of encounters with mountain lions in the past, including one cougar in Utah and seven different individuals over the years in the jungles of Costa Rica, but I had yet to see the puma of the Andes. It's the same species, but each subspecies has minor regional differences in appearance. The Costa Rican cats are smaller, for example. The pumas in Patagonia tend to have wider faces and longer ears.

So even though I really wanted to see the cats, I wasn't sure how exciting the experience would be given my past encounters. Well, it ended up being one of the best wildlife trips I've ever taken. We had incredible luck with the King (and Queen) of the Andes during an action-packed week. A preview is below, but you should really check out the full photo gallery I've just uploaded to my site to get a full taste of what we saw.

View the full Patagonia 2016 Puma gallery here.

ALSO, if anyone's interested in seeing wild pumas, I will be leading a tour to southern Chile. I'm not sure we'll have the same type of luck I did this year, but we are virtually guaranteed to see and photograph a puma in the wild.

Max

 

[Bill Anderson]

Great shots. Cougars are very skittish and hide from people. How far were you from these cats and what lenses were you using?

 

[fiznatty]

Bill, I've found Latin American pumas to be more tolerant than our North American cats, and in some cases they're downright accommodating. The female depicted in image 3, 4 and 6 here was the "friendliest" one we encountered. At one point she walked within 10 yards of us. That last shot above is nearly full frame with a 600mm lens. Other cats can be somewhat shy... it just depends on the temperament of different individuals. Ironically, of the ones I've seen in Costa Rica, the biggest male was the most skittish. Generally the females on this trip were more cooperative too.

Max

 

[squirl033]

great shots, as always, Max...