A mountain lion peers out from a rocky nook in Yellowstone National Park. Demonized by farmers and ranchers, mountain lions were almost hunted out of existence until substantial research in the 1960s helped dispel fears about these mysterious big cats which are in fact more likely to run up a tree than attack a human.

(Text adapted from and photograph shot on assignment for, but not published in, "Learning to Live with Mountain Lions," July 1992, National Geographic magazine)