By Cissy Jackson
The Alabama Wilds area of the Zoo is about to get a lot wilder. Cougar Crossing, the Birmingham Zoo’s newest addition will feature two fascinating wildcats, who will join other native species as the Zoo continues to enhance guests’ opportunities to experience and learn about the wildlife in our state. Building on a leadership gift from Phyllis and Larry Wojciechowski, animal lovers across our community have contributed to the Cougar Crossing campaign, making donations of all sizes, totaling more than $4.6 million to date. Former Zoo Board Chair Wally Nall led the Zoo’s fundraising effort for Cougar Crossing, and he credits dozens of Mountain Brook individuals, families, and foundations with helping the Zoo exceed its goal. Although just seeing these elusive cats is pretty cool, Nall says the mission of Alabama Wilds is to help Alabamians understand the connections between people and the animals in their own backyards. “Every animal has a purpose on this earth,” he explains. “We need to learn about that so we can appreciate them and understand why it’s important to protect them.”
Christy Christian, Principal of Crestline Elementary School, is thrilled about the new arrivals. “Since our school mascot is the cougar, we are very excited about Cougar Crossing,” she said. “It presents unique opportunities to partner with the Zoo to enhance our students’ learning experiences and to bring to life our school’s motto: Cougar STRONG.”
Not just for cougars, the addition also includes space for a new bobcat. Right at home in the Alabama Wilds, bobcats live in a variety of habitats throughout Alabama including wooded uplands, bottomland forests, brushy areas, swamps, and semi-open farmland, though they prefer rocky outcrops and canyons. Most active around dusk and dawn, they are solitary and very territorial — in fact, a bobcat will patrol the same route around its territory every night.
The name bobcat derives from the cats’ short or “bobbed” tails. Bobcats also have distinctive pointed ears with black tufts and drooping facial hair that looks like sideburns. Closely related to cheetahs, bobcats typically have brown spots on a tan or gray coat, while cheetahs have black spots on a yellow or orange coat. Unlike cheetahs, bobcats have retractable claws, so you do not see claw marks with a bobcat pawprint.
Bobcats are good planners – they often have multiple dens for different purposes, and when food is plentiful, they will sometimes stash food in trees or hiding places in the ground to which they can return when food is scarce. Unlike housecats, bobcats are comfortable in the water and can swim long distances. Excellent climbers and impressive jumpers for their size, bobcats have been known to leap 12 feet horizontally and 6 feet vertically, though the average bobcat is only 1-2 feet tall and weighs around 20 pounds. Bobcats are stealthy and patient predators, sometimes stalking prey for up to 7 miles, and when they run, their back feet land in the same spots where their front feet have stepped to minimize the noise made by their footsteps. Although not currently considered endangered, bobcats face a variety of threats — mostly from humans — including habitat destruction, conflict with humans, and international demand for bobcat fur.
In addition to the bobcat, visitors to Alabama Wilds will have the opportunity to see an animal not found in Alabama since the mid-1800s. Cougars once roamed Alabama as widely as bobcats, but they have been extirpated (locally extinct) for more than 150 years. Although gone from Alabama, cougars can and still do live in nearly every ecosystem in North and South America, and every place gives them a different name. In fact, cougars hold the Guinness World Record for more nicknames than any other mammal with more than 40 English names, as well as a number of names in other languages. Cougars’ scientific name is puma concolor, but you may also hear them called mountain lions, pumas, panthers, painters, catamounts, mountain screamers, ghost cats, red lions, American lions, swamp cats, deer tigers, Florida panthers, and mountain devils.
The second-largest cat species in North America (after the jaguar), cougars can weigh up to 265 pounds and can be up to 8.5 feet long from nose to tail. Never try to run from a cougar – with top speeds reaching 80 mph, they can certainly catch you, though they prefer to ambush their prey, often from above. Not just fast, cougars are extremely agile. In addition to their nickname record, cougars hold the Guinness World Record for highest vertical leap by a mammal – 23 feet from a standstill!
Cougars, like bobcats, have retractable claws, and you can identify cougar tracks by their distinctive M-shaped paw pads. Baby cougars, called kittens, have spots and bright blue eyes, but as they mature, their eyes and fur take on a golden hue and their spots fade. Kittens stay with their mother for up to two years, but adult cougars, like most cats, are typically solitary animals.
The Florida panther is the only cougar subspecies left in the southeastern United States, and they, as well as cougars elsewhere, face a number of threats, including habitat loss and fragmentation, decreasing prey populations, conflict with humans, and road construction.
Chris Pfefferkorn, CEO of the Birmingham Zoo:
OTMJ: How long have you been planning this new cougar exhibit?
CP: The Wojciechowski Cougar Crossing has been in the planning stages for several years and the arrival of this first cub is a major step towards us opening in mid-March. As the Birmingham Zoo celebrates its 70th anniversary this year, the new Cougar Crossing is a significant milestone in the Zoo’s overall history. We would like to thank Larry and Phyllis Wojciechowski for their generosity to help make this exhibit a reality. This has truly become a community initiative with hundreds of people, companies, and other organizations joining together to help us be successful.
OTMJ The mission of the Birmingham Zoo is inspiring passion to conserve the natural world. Why?
CP: We believe this mission statement sums up what we do. We believe it’s our purpose to educate and inspire our guests so that they can make choices that benefit the natural world.
OTMJ: How does Alabama Wilds further that mission?
CP: Alabama Wilds showcases the wildlife found in Alabama and contains messaging that helps our guests learn how to coexist with our native wildlife.
OTMJ: Why is biodiversity important? What roles do bobcats and cougars play in our environment?
CP: Biodiversity is extremely important, as we are all dependent upon each other for survival. For example, we depend on bees to pollinate the crops that produce the food we eat. Cougars play a role in keeping the ungulate populations in check, so the herds don’t get larger than the food that is available to sustain them. Bobcats help control the rodent and pest populations by feeding on mice, rats, and other small mammals that eat food sources for both humans and other animals.
OTMJ: How can we translate the passion the Zoo inspires into action?
CP: Translating passion can take many forms. For example if a Zoo visitor learns about the importance of bobcats in the Alabama ecosystem, they may make a choice to not use rat poison outside their home, knowing it could harm a bobcat. They may learn how to behave if they interact with a cougar or bobcat in the wild so that no harm comes to either party, and they may drive more slowly at night on rural roads to reduce the number of animals injured or killed by vehicles.
