Conflict between human beings and wild animals is nothing new. As a direct result of people encroaching on the territories of wild animals, incidents where wildlife and human beings cross paths is becoming more and more common. One such incident has grabbed internet’s attention lately, where a mountain lion can be seen watching a jogger from behind some bushes.
In the video shared widely across social media platforms as well as YouTube, an interesting interaction between a man and a wild cat can be witnessed. However, it has to be said that it was rather one sided, as the person does not even seem aware that they have been seen by a fearsome predator.
The video is a home’s CCTV footage and it shows a mountain lion strolling across the front yard of a house in a residential area in Ojai, California. However, it soon walks rather casually behind a bush and crouches down to hide itself. Just as one begins to wonder about the big cat’s actions, a jogger can be seen entering the frame. The picture falls right into place.
The cougar spotted the person approaching them and to avoid being seen, hid behind the bushes. The animal sits quietly and watches the jogger run past it. The jogger, meanwhile is completely oblivious to the fact that it is in such close proximity of a mountain lion.
The animal can be seen popping its head up to see if the person is gone after they run out of the view of the camera.
The video of this incident which was also shared by IFS Susanta Nanda on Twitter has received over 41,000 views and more than 1,900 likes since being shared. More than 300 users have retweeted the post.
Watch the video here:
Wild animals will avoid conflict with humans in a majority of situations. They react only when threatened…
Interesting video of a mountain lion watching the runner after getting totally camouflaged to avoid conflict.
Via the unexplained pic.twitter.com/wARdjjPqSG— Susanta Nanda IFS (@susantananda3) September 29, 2022
While some people agreed with Mr. Nanda’s comment that wild animals try and avoid conflict with humans, others felt that the mountain lion was showing typical hunting behaviour and was stalking the person, which is why they were in a dangerous situation.
I can’t completely, agree with your comment. Yes, most animals try to avoid conflict with us. But, in big cat situations, they will hide, watch & wait for the perfect opportunity to pounce on their prey. 🐆
— Candielove (@TaiLeon3) September 29, 2022
Sir, ofcourse they always avoid the confliction but here it seems the mountain lion stalking the subject rather hiding itself.
— Ashutosh Nayak (@Assutoss) September 29, 2022
Yes, we have regular Leopards visiting us in UK, stay a while, bask in the sun and then back into the forest they go
— Arjun Bir Sahi 🇮🇳 (@arjunbirsahi) September 29, 2022
Very true. Wild animals in the jungle avoid conflict and only attack when they are threatened but the same does not apply for animals in captivity. There are instances of humans getting hurt by animals in the zoo
— lalatendu kanungo (@bapu_vivekanand) September 29, 2022
The mountain lion (Puma concolor), also known as cougar, puma, panther, or catamount, is a large cat native to the Americas. Its range spans from the Canadian Yukon to the southern Andes in South America and is the most widespread of any large wild terrestrial mammal in the Western Hemisphere. It is an adaptable, generalist species, occurring in most American habitat types.
Mountain lions are known to be very sneaky and are masters at camouflage, so the chances are that if you see one, then it has already probably seen you first.