Cougar chasing monkey in tree for food…or fun?

Cougars are hard-wired to kill, that’s how they sur­vive. But do they al­ways chase prey be­cause they’re hungry? No one knows for sure.

There are in­stances where cou­gars chose to tackle large prey such as a buck elk even when smal­ler an­im­als are read­ily ac­cess­ible. Biologist and cou­gar safety ex­pert, Dave Eyer, spec­u­lates this might be be­cause some cou­gars like a big chal­lenge even when no one’s around to applaud.

I’ll take that one step fur­ther and sug­gest that some­times cou­gars chase prey for prac­tise or for the sheer pleas­ure of the pur­suit. Of course, if they catch what they’re after, they’ll kill and eat it.

Take a look at these pho­tos of a cou­gar chas­ing a howl­er money through the trees in Costa Rica and see what you think.