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Are We on the Mountain Lion's Menu?Here's a program from our archives.Every once in a while, your hear a story about a jogger or a hiker in a remote area being killed by a Mountain Lion. Although these instances are rare, why do they happen? I'm Jim Metzner, and this is the Pulse of the Planet.ambience: Mountain LionsWe're listening to the sounds of a Mountain Lion. Fully grown, these animals can weigh over one hundred pounds, making them formidable predators, even for an adult human. Laundr: The risk of being killed by a mountain lion is much less than many of the other risks we take in the wild or in our cities.Biologist John Laundr has been working with Mountain Lions for thirteen years. Laundr: If I had to sum up what the mountain lion is, it's anywhere from an eighty to a hundred and fifty pound house cat in its behavior. It's a very docile animal, prone to potential fits of anger I guess you would say. Of the the large cats, it is one of the least aggressive animals. Even though they occasionally do attack and kill people, the instances are very rare and their demeanor in the wild is very calm.The reason why mountain lions occasionally will kill humans is still up to speculation. Potentially what happens is that the mountain lion is suddenly confronted with something moving in the woods. And their instinctive reaction to that is to attack, because if they wait to determine what it is, they'll possibly lose a chance at capturing a prey animal and so, my feeling is that a large percentage of the attacks can be explained for this reason.Even though we humans aren't a regular item on the mountain lion menu, if you live in an area where they're known to reside, the watchword should still be caution. We've been listening to a program from our archives. If you want to hear more, check out our podcast. I'm Jim Metzner and this is the Pulse of the Planet.