"Felis concolor (cougar, puma, or mountain lion) is one of the most elusive carnivores in North America - and one of the most dangerous. Yet R.D. Lawrence decided to spend one autumn, winter, and spring observing the animal in its natural habitat. In the fall of 1972, he built a small cabin in the heart of British Columbia's Selkirk Mountains, choosing an isolated area not accessible to the casual explorer. For the next ten months he neither saw nor spoke with another human being. Perched in the branches of nearby trees for hours, man and mountain lion warily watched each other for the first time. But from then on, a rapport grew between them as the puma began to accept a human presence in its domain. Always traveling unarmed, Lawrence tracked the puma, sometimes accompanying it as it stalked its prey. Once, he silently observed a tense showdown as the lone mountain lion tried to protect its kill from a pack of wolves.