Cougar vs Lion
The lion is heavier: 161.5 kg against 51.6 kg for the cougar, about 3.1 times the weight.
Photo: Carlos · CC BY 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons
Photo: GinaFranchi · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons
What is the difference between a cougar and a lion?
Each point below is worked out from a pair of recorded values.
- The lion is heavier: 161.5 kg against 51.6 kg for the cougar, about 3.1 times the weight.
- The lion is longer-lived: 27 years against 21.9 years for the cougar, about 24% longer.
- They share the family Felidae but sit in different genera: Cougar in Puma, Lion in Panthera.
- The cougar is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List; the lion is Vulnerable.
Side by side
| Cougar | Lion | |
|---|---|---|
| Scientific name | Puma concolor | Panthera leo |
| Family | Felidae | Felidae |
| Order | Carnivora | Carnivora |
| Weight | 48 kg – 51.6 kg | 126 kg – 188 kg |
| Length | Not recorded | Not recorded |
| Lifespan | 21.9 years | 27 years |
| Main food | american badger, beaver, bighorn sheep, bobcat, canada goose, capybara and 38 more | ungulate |
| Habitat | rocky | grassland, shrubland |
| Conservation status | Least Concern | Vulnerable |
| Countries recorded | Not recorded | Not recorded |
A scale drawing needs a recorded length for both animals; only weights are on record for this pair.