Cougar

The cougar (Puma concolor), also commonly known as the mountain lion, puma, panther, or catamount, is a large felid of the subfamily Felinae native to the Americas. Its range, from the Canadian Yukon to the southern Andes of South America, is the greatest of any large wild terrestrial mammal in the Western Hemisphere. An adaptable, generalist species, the cougar is found in most American habitat types. It is the second-heaviest cat in the New World, after the jaguar. Secretive and largely solitary by nature, the cougar is properly considered both nocturnal and crepuscular, although sightings during daylight hours do occur. The cougar is more closely related to smaller felines, including the domestic cat (subfamily Felinae), than to any species of subfamily Pantherinae, of which only the jaguar is native to the Americas.

The cougar is an ambush predator and pursues a wide variety of prey. Primary food sources are ungulates, particularly deer, but also livestock. It also hunts species as small as insects and rodents. This cat prefers habitats with dense underbrush and rocky areas for stalking, but can also live in open areas. The cougar is territorial and survives at low population densities. Individual territory sizes depend on terrain, vegetation, and abundance of prey. While large, it is not always the apex predator in its range, yielding to the jaguar, gray wolf, American black bear, and grizzly bear. It is reclusive and mostly avoids people. Fatal attacks on humans are rare, but in North America have been increasing in recent years as more people enter their territories.

Mokilese language

Mokilese or Mwoakilloan is a Micronesian language originally spoken on Mokil Atoll, Federated States of Micronesia. Of the 1200 Mokilese speakers, only about 500 live on Mokil.

Introduction

History

Mokilese originated from the Mokil (or Mwoakilloa) Atoll, but speakers have also migrated approximately 100 miles west, to the Pohnpei Islands, and parts of the United States. It has also been referred to as Mokil, Mwoakilese, or Mwoakiloa. Mokil Atoll and Pohnpei are both geographically part of the Caroline Islands just above Papua New Guinea. Mokil Atoll as a district of the outlying islands of Pohnpei of the Federated States of Micronesia. Before Western contact, Mokilese only had contact with its neighboring islands: Pohnpei, Pingelap, Kosrae, and the Marshall Islands. After Spanish explorers rediscovered Mokil Atoll, they colonized it in 1886 (Hezel, 1992). Shortly after they lost they lost the Spanish-American War in 1898, they sold it to Germany (Encyclopædia Britannica, 2014). Later, in 1914, it was seized by Japan and heavily fortified during World War II, until Japan surrendered and passed it on to the United States in August 1945 (Hezel, 1992). Thereafter, it became a part of the UN trust territory under U.S. jurisdiction in 1947 until the trust territory dissolved in 1986 (Encyclopædia Britannica, 2014).