A puma in Torres del Paine National Park, Chile

© Benjamin Lowy/Getty Images

A puma in Torres del Paine National Park, Chile

What we call the species Puma concolor depends on where we live. Here in Torres del Paine National Park, it’s a puma. In North America, we tend to call these cats cougars or mountain lions. This Chilean national park provides a great habitat for pumas, who hunt guanacos and the other deer-like ruminants that munch on the grassy plains of the park. Scientists frequent Torres del Paine in order to study the pumas, as the large population presents a good opportunity for easy observation. They’re so familiar with some of the pumas here, they’ve given them names. This one’s called Mocho.