Chile: Torres Del Paine – The puma who came for lunch

Hello my name is Colette,

Today I almost got eaten by a Puma.

Also known as the cougar, panther or mountain lion.  You can recognize this hungry, dangerous Puma by its shining golden fur and razor sharp teeth.

The Puma is rarely seen and hunts at night.  At least that’s what they say.

I was lucky enough to see two Pumas during the daytime!

Pumas are meat eaters.  They are very vicious cats and can grow up to 270cm, the male weights up to about 90kg and the females 60kg.

We were driving through the national park when we spotted a Puma stalking Guanacos on a green hill with lots of bushes. Luckily the Guanacos made a sound to alert the others of the Puma’s presence and ran away before they got eaten and beaten.

To find the first Puma is extremely lucky.  But to find a second one is deliciously lucky (for the Puma).

Later in the afternoon, I was walking below some very special rocks made by the first oxygen-producing organisms!  The Puma seemed to have smelled a delicious snack miles away (me) and has come to taste it.

It happened all very quickly.  The Puma was stalking me, walking above me on the rock, ready to pounce.  He was just meters away so he could have easily caught me in one great leap.

When my dad spotted him, he asked me to walk over very calmly.  Once I was close to my dad again, the Puma seemed to lose interest, hungrily and angrily stormed off.  A pretty scary encounter!

What I learned:

When you are encountering a dangerous, wild animal, you should never run.  Otherwise the hunt is on and they will start chasing.  Calmly back up and join a group of adults.  There is a much smaller chance that they will attack a group of people or a car.