Almost impossible to observe in nature, the solitary ways of the cougar, or mountain lion, have long been veiled in myth and mystery. Called the "Spirit of the Mountains" by Native Americans, the Cougar once roamed throughout North America. After being hunted mercilessly for the past 200 years, it has retreated to the most remote corners of our continent. Prepared in conjunction with an award-winning documentary of the same name, Cougar: Ghost of the Rockies reveals a year in the life of this elegant and enigmatic creature through the eyes of wildlife filmaker Jim Dutcher. Dutcher, along with writer Karen McCall and a support team, observed and filmed Catrina, a pregnant cougar taken from the Boise Zoo and released into a five-acre enclosure in Idaho"s White Cloud Mountains. The first humans afforded so close a glimpse of the elusive cougar"s annual life cycle, Dutcher and McCall provide an extraordinary portfolio of mountain lion behavior. The book"s dramatic full-color photographs display the cougar"s grace and beauty, her power and agility, and her tenderness in caring for and educating her young. Karen McCall"s text beautifully complements the photographs, interweaving the story of the filmmaking project with Native American and pioneer myth and legend, contemporary information such as population dynamics, territorialism and predatory behavior, and information on the devastating impact of human encroachment on the cougar"s habitat. Pulitzer-prize winning author Wallace Stegner makes an eloquent plea to maintain the moratorium that has saved the cougar from extinction in his moving Foreword, "Memo to the Mountain Lion."