Cougars (the cats, not the big-haired scary women), are solitary animals, and their elusiveness, rather than their considerable skill at hunting, has kept them off the endangered species list thus far. The declining number of cougars in the wild has more to do with loss of habitat than with the efforts of misinformed ranchers to eliminate them. The cougar is an extremely patient hunter, and will stalk prey for hours at a time, waiting for the perfect position from which to attack. Generally, a healthy cougar has an 82% success rate in its attacks, compared to only a 5% success rate for the tiger.