Mountain Lion Swing
YouTube: Thaddeus Wells

Mountain Lion is Overly Amused By Tree Swing in the Woods

Many people do not realize our own domesticated house cats are not that far removed from the larger ones living in the wilds of the world. Every so often, a video comes along that reminds us that the big cats are, in a lot of ways, wired in the exact same way as the little ones. This hilarious trail camera footage comes to us from Colorado and proves that theory. According to USA Today, Thaddeus Wells set up a tree swing in the woods and then placed the camera on it. He had hoped to capture some footage of some bear cubs playing on it, but then a large mountain lion happened by the area instead.

At the beginning of the video, the big cat is just lazily lounging beneath the swing after a meal. In fact, it looks like she's ready for a big catnap when she reaches those big paws up and brushes the swing. From there, she's instantly alert again. The predator quickly turns into the world's biggest kitten, playfully batting the swing back and forth while she rolls on her back, quite thrilled at the discovery.

This is one of the funniest trail camera videos we've seen in a while. The way she lays there on the ground watching the swing go back and forth reminds me so much of my cat reacting to a toy. Mountain lions may be ferocious predators when they are looking to fill their bellies, but it's clear they have a bit more personality than we expected. It seems a cat is a cat no matter how large or small they might be.

Wells told McClatchy News the big cat spent some time biting and tasting the swing in footage that was cut from the video. The mountain lion was in the area feeding on a deer when this interaction with the swing happened. Eventually three bears moved into the area and drove the mountain lion away from what was left of the harvest.

We're just glad there was a trail camera there to capture this hilarious moment on camera for the world to see.

For more outdoor content from Travis Smola, be sure to follow him on Twitter and Instagram For original videos, check out his Geocaching and Outdoors with Travis YouTube channels

READ MORE: SPECIES PROFILE: HOW BIG ARE MOUNTAIN LIONS?