Cats are beautiful and dangerous. Tourists who want to experience the real-life dramas that come with these apex predators often consider going on safaris or visiting parks in Africa or Eurasia.

But if those tourists are from the Americas, they could see similar things at home. The New World’s large and small cats may not have the global fame of lions, tigers, and cheetahs, but their way of life is much the same. Ordinary people have witnessed some amazing events associated with wild American cats, while professionals have inched even closer.

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10 Mary’s Peak Encounter

One day, this person was just visiting the scenic wilderness of Mary’s Peak near Corvallis, Oregon, when this happened.^[1]

Seeing a large cat make a kill right in front of you is something that you would only expect to experience in places like the Serengeti, not a few miles from home!

Lesson learned: Always keep your phone charged, and have extra batteries on hand!

9 Mountain Lion In Heat

Here is a professional guide who is awed by the sounds echoing through the woods around him.

What would you do if you heard something like that? (Probably not turn to the camera and whisper “mountain lion in heat.”) Mountain lions (aka cougars or pumas) are included as “Least Concern” on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.

However, these are not the only terrifying sounds made by wild cats in the Americas.^[2]

8 Lynx Males Screaming At Each Other In Tree

Even without the suggested earphones, this is jarring.

These blood-chilling screams are a good way for the males to compete for a she-cat’s favors without risking harm in a physical fight. Although the males tangled a bit, each one survived the encounter. Of course, both had been at risk of falling.

The question is: What was the winning move? Not position. The cat on top lost the battle.

Did the other lynx have a louder yell? More teeth bared? Fancier footwork on the branches? We’ll never know.

Fortunately, outside of mating season, Canada lynxes are a little more approachable.^[3]

7 Lynx And Cameraman Have Working Relationship

It’s difficult to say which one is more hardcore here—the cameraman who kept at it through Canadian snow for almost 80 days or Mad Max, the lynx.

This time, it’s a win-win situation for cat and man. Mad Max got his meal. The cameraman took some unique footage and enjoyed the best day of his life.

Canada lynxes are also on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species as “Least Concern.” Together with the bobcat, they belong to one of the few intercontinental feline lineages. Their Old World relatives are the Iberian lynx and the Eurasian lynx.^[4]

6 Jaguarundi And Monkey

This common, small, Latin American wild cat is one of the least-known cats to residents of North America.

In this video, it’s not an otter going up the tree. That’s the jaguarundi. (Actually, it appears that a tayra has “weaseled” its way into the video. But we’re going to talk about jaguarundis anyway.)

Jaguarundis are built long and low to the ground with a very long tail. (Despite the name, they’re more closely related to mountain lions than to jaguars.)

You might want to take off the earphones for this video. It is a little horrifying—partly because it’s a kill but more because of the hapless victim’s screams and the predator’s harsh yowls. Also, this killer cat does not care that humans are nearby.

Jaguarundis, red-listed as “Least Concern,” usually hunt on the ground, which is another reason why this video would be special if that little sucker actually was a jaguarundi.^[5]

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5 Jaguars vs. Otters

Jaguars are the only big cat that’s native to the Americas. At one time, they inhabited parts of what is now the United States, but today, they only live wild in Latin America.

Jaguars are excellent swimmers, but these two don’t want to go into the water!

What makes this especially hardcore (and hilarious) is that the jaguars are being laughed at by Panthera personnel.

By the way, those giant otters are endangered.^[6] This was probably just a learning experience for the young cats. No one laughs at a hungry adult jaguar.

4 Jaguar And Caiman

Jaguars are powerfully built and have massive jaw muscles. They can eat almost anything they want, including cattle. But in many parts of South America, caimans—relatives of the crocodile—are the favorite food of jaguars.

As we see in this video, the jaguar is good at sneaking up on a careless caiman that ventures a little too close to shore.

Jaguars have “Near Threatened” status on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, though they are rarer in some parts of their range. Caimans are considered “Unspecified.”^[7]

3 Andean Mountain Cat On The Prowl

At first glance, this is just a small, fuzzy-looking cat. However, two facts make this video especially impressive.

First, as this is the Andes above the tree line, many of those rocky surfaces are nearly vertical—and this doesn’t seem to faze the cat. It carries on its restless search for food at a steady pace regardless of the slope.

Second, it is a huge achievement that they are now getting videos like this. Until recently (when digital cameras became a thing), no one could be sure whether the rare Andean cat was still around or had gone extinct. Only native people reported seeing it.

Andean cats are “Endangered” on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.

Experts aren’t sure where this mysterious little species fits into the cat family. For many decades, conservationists could only study a few pelts and some stuffed specimens. Thanks to modern technology and field evidence like this video, our understanding of Andean cats is improving.^[8]

2 Oncilla On The Prowl

What’s so hardcore about this camera trap video?

First, the oncilla (aka the northern tiger cat) is red-listed as “Vulnerable.” That means it’s at high risk of extinction.

Next, the pointy-nosed, feisty critter taken down by the oncilla is either a grison (Latin America’s version of the wolverine) or a coati (a species that snacks upon rattlesnakes, among other things).

They are both hard fighters, though only one looks like a pretty little house cat.

Finally, after murdering a rodent for dessert, the oncilla goes right back into adorable mode. Then it wanders off into the night to commit more mayhem, and we can only go, “Aww, how cute!”

Do not show this video to any friends who are already convinced that cats are all psychopaths.^[9]

1Mountain Lion Raising A Family

You can’t get much more hardcore than this.

Other than lions, most cats are solitary and just get together briefly during breeding season. Females then do the rest, bearing the young and feeding and guarding them for months to years.

During this time, Mom must do her regular hunting as well as catch more food to feed her family. Typically, the male doesn’t help her and is often a threat to the cubs.

The encounter with the cub’s father is just one of the awesome things about this video.

The young male’s eventual fate is sad. Over the long run, though, this tendency for male cats to disperse has helped mountain lions spread throughout the Americas.

It’s always a risk to set off on your own, but it has paid off. Today, as a species, mountain lions range through more latitude than any other mammal in the Americas.^[10]

10 Heartwarming Stories Of Pets Who Survived Natural Disasters (Videos)

Spies. Secret agents. Experts of espionage. These exciting and elusive characters have been sparking intrigue in the hearts of us average citizens since James Bond appeared on the big screen in a cloud of mystery and a jet-black tuxedo. Stories of heroic feats accomplished by these agents of intelligence spread like wildfire, and nothing excites us more than a dangerous mission or a daring escape.

Unfortunately, modern spy mania has been focused primarily on the furtive actions of male spies, leaving some incredibly fierce female spies high and dry. Well, it’s time for these hard-core women to enter the spotlight. Here are 10 of the most notorious female spies in history.

10 Belle Boyd

“Southern Belle” Boyd would not have considered herself a spy. However, she was essential to many of the South’s victories during the US Civil War. She gathered information about Union forces through covert means and passed it along to aid the Confederacy.

It was 1861, and the war was just beginning. At the time, Boyd was a resident of Martinsburg, Virginia. She was eager to join the efforts of the South against the North, so she got involved with the Confederacy’s fundraising efforts. However, she knew that she could do more. When Union soldiers occupied her town in 1861, she saw her chance.

Boyd took advantage of her status and conversational abilities to become close to some of the Union soldiers. Covertly, she gathered as much information as she could while maintaining her seemingly innocent persona. She would then relay this information to Confederate officers, even if it meant sneaking through enemy lines to tell General Stonewall Jackson about the opposition’s plan to burn the town’s bridges.^[1]

However, recon is not all that Belle was famous for. One day, during the Union occupation of Martinsburg, a Union soldier attempted to raise a flag over the home of Boyd and her mother. After Boyd denied the men access to her home, one rowdy soldier attempted to force his way into the residence. He did not make it very far. Belle pulled out a gun and shot the man dead. Pretty hard-core, right?

9 Melita Norwood

Melita Norwood was sweet and seemingly innocuous. A secretary at the British Non-Ferrous Metals Research Association (aka “the BNF”) in the 1930s, she was responsible for things such as organizing appointments and handling files. Nothing too serious.

Wondering where the spy part comes in? Here it is.

The BNF was actually a cover organization for the Tube Alloys project—Britain’s nuclear weapons program. Though she lived and worked in Britain, Norwood was a Russian at heart, identifying with the Communist ideologies of the Soviet government. This sympathetic attitude eventually got her involved in the KGB. When they gave her an opportunity to help them out, she accepted.

Acting under the code name “Hola,” Norwood was directed to stick around the BNF facilities after closing and covertly remove files from the safes. She would then copy these files and give them to KGB handlers at her house (unknown to her husband). Much of this information was used to advance Russian nuclear technology.^[2]

Following the discovery of her espionage efforts years later, Norwood was asked to reveal the identities of her Russian accomplices. She refused, claiming memory loss as the reason that she could not recall any of their names.

8 Christine Granville

Christine Granville was a beauty queen-turned-spy. Prior to her involvement in World War II, she was a model. At the start of the war, Granville became a messenger in Nazi-occupied countries in Europe. Her job was to carry messages through Poland, delivering them to various Allied forces without detection.

This proved to be a dangerous responsibility. Granville became famous for rescuing soldiers from execution, escaping gunfire, parachuting, sewing knives into the hems of her skirts, fabricating elaborate stories to get out of tight spots, and charming guards and guard dogs alike. One story tells of how she escaped Nazi police forces by biting her tongue and pretending she was dying of tuberculosis.

Granville also used her beauty as an asset, charming various lovers throughout her lengthy career in espionage. She quickly found the eyes of Winston Churchill, who would later make her a member of his personal espionage unit under the code name “Willing” (a hint at Granville’s sexy and exciting personality).

It is even rumored that Granville was the inspiration behind the female lead in the James Bond novel Casino Royale. Alas, Christine was murdered by a crazy ex-lover in London toward the end of her career.^[3]

7 Noor Inayat Khan

The first female radio operator and the first British-Indian spy. Yes, you read that right. Noor Inayat Khan was a groundbreaking woman. She was hired by the “Prosper” resistance movement in Paris during World War II under the code name “Madeleine.”

The movement’s leaders initially questioned whether Khan could get the job done, but their fears were quickly allayed. While many other members of the resistance were arrested, Khan avoided capture time and time again, frequently relocating and remaining in constant communication with London.

Unfortunately, Khan’s long and successful career as a spy ended when she was exposed by a local Frenchwoman who discovered her identity. Khan was quickly arrested by the Gestapo, who used her personal documents of secret signals and codes to trick London into sending new agents. The Gestapo then captured these agents as well.^[4]

After an attempted escape, Khan was placed in solitary confinement and tortured for information. However, she refused to reveal anything, eventually dying at the hands of the Nazi police. What a woman.

6 Mata Hari

Mata Hari was a spy disguised as an exotic Asian dancer. Cool, right?

She was famous for touring Europe, performing a series of strip shows in which she would make up elaborate stories about her youth. To some audiences, she was born in a sacred Indian temple. To others, she was taught to dance by Indian priestesses.

Mata Hari’s seductive nature and boisterous personality gave her the perfect cover for espionage. Thus, at the outbreak of World War I, she became a messenger and courier for the Allies’ opposition.

Mata Hari was famous for making lovers out of high-ranking military officials from different countries, allegedly coaxing them to reveal details about weapons and strikes. She would relay these details to the opposition, resulting in the deaths of thousands of people. However, some people have speculated in the 21st century that her effectiveness as a spy was overstated. Or that she may not have been a spy at all.

During her lifetime, Mata Hari was also suspected of being a double agent. But before her status could be revealed, she was discovered by the Allies and sentenced to death. A French firing squad killed her outside Paris in 1917—a dramatic end to a dramatic career.^[5]

5 Virginia Hall

Virginia Hall, an American spy with the British Special Operations Executive, was as tough as they come. She also worked for the American Office of Strategic Services during World War II and later for the CIA.

While on a hunting trip in Turkey, Hall lost her leg to a gun accident. After her leg was amputated, she named its wooden replacement “Cuthbert.”

She led networks of agents in various tasks throughout her career, rescued prisoners of war, and recruited hundreds of spies to work against the Nazis (who referred to her as the “limping lady”). Using her wit to remain one step ahead of the Nazis at all times, Hall served as an infuriating roadblock to many of their operations.^[6]

Hall became the only civilian woman to receive the Distinguished Service Cross.

4 Nancy Wake

Nancy Wake was not your average journalist. After a childhood in poverty (mostly in Australia), she worked as a journalist and then rose to become a hostess in high-society France by marrying a wealthy French industrialist. Wake saw the destruction and abuse caused by the Nazis firsthand, and she longed to do something about it.

She joined the French Resistance at the beginning of World War II, quickly becoming a heroine of the movement. Her successes included establishing communication between the British military and the French Resistance, saving Allied lives by secretly escorting them through France to Spain, and collecting and storing weapons for the advance of the Allies.

She was often credited with executing German spies, and it is even rumored that Wake once killed a German soldier with her bare hands. These daring feats gained her the nickname the “White Mouse.” For try as they might, the Nazis could never get their hands on her.^[7]

3 Anna Chapman

Three words: Crazy. Russian. Spy.

Anna Chapman is one of the more famous modern spies. Part of a spy ring devoted to Russia, she spent years in the United States while attempting to glean information of any kind that might be useful to the Russian government.

She was popularly accused of attempting to seduce the NSA whistle-blower Edward Snowden in an effort to keep him in Russia for questioning. Chapman hoped to marry him, lock him in Russia, and snatch American secrets from his brain. Intense, right?

But get this: Chapman was also a famous model. She would often use her status to learn covert information and gain access to government secrets. In 2010, she was finally arrested in New York City and deported after pleading guilty to conspiracy charges.^[8]

A model who is also a spy? A spy who is also a model? Seems legit.

2 Josephine Baker

Josephine Baker is just straight-up cool. Most famous for being both a singer and a dancer, she became wildly popular in the 1920s. Baker was into all things exotic—performing songs, dances, and even comedic skits wearing nothing but a feather skirt. As you might assume, she quickly became one of Europe’s most popular and highly paid performers, eventually even going on Broadway.

However, most people don’t know that Baker was also a spy.^[9] She worked for the French Resistance during World War II, smuggling messages by hiding them in her sheet music and sometimes even in her underwear. For her work, Baker received French military honors.

1 Ana Montes

Ana Montes, a famous spy for the Cuban government, began working for the US with the Defense Intelligence Agency in 1985. She was often referred to as an expert on all things Cuba. As she openly disagreed with US foreign policy, it was not long before Cuban officials reached out to Montes and persuaded her to do some work for them.

She was the perfect woman for the job. Not only did Montes have access to government secrets (specifically the Afghanistan invasion), she also possessed a photographic memory. This made it easy for her to memorize documents and encrypted files and recite them to her handlers later.

When her colleagues grew suspicious, Montes agreed to take a polygraph test to prove her allegiance to the US. She passed. She would go on working covertly for the Cuban government for a few more years until the FBI was able to build up a substantial case against her. In 2002, she pleaded guilty to spying and received a 25-year prison sentence.^[10] Her tentative release date is 2023.

Female spy enthusiast.

Colombia, Poland, Venezuela, Ireland, Sweden, Morocco—the list goes on. For hundreds of years, Scottish soldiers have taken the opportunity to earn money by fighting in foreign lands. In other words, they were mercenaries. Sometimes these Scottish soldiers of fortune supported established monarchs, while on other occasions, they fought with rebels anxious to upend the status quo. But wherever they went and whoever they fought, the results most often were tales well worth the telling.

10 Peter McAleese

A Glaswegian born in 1942, Peter Maltese led a band of mercenary fighters to Colombia in 1989. McAleese had an impressive pedigree for his role as the commander of a motley bunch of soldiers of fortune. He’d served with Britain’s feted elite force, the SAS. In a documentary film about his life, McAleese reinforced his image as an all-around tough guy, saying, “I was trained to kill by the Army, but the fighting instinct came from Glasgow.”

McAleese left the army in 1969 and drifted into the shadowy world of mercenary fighters, seeing action in African hotspots such as Angola and what was then Rhodesia and is now Zimbabwe. But why did he travel to Colombia? In a barely credible turn of events, he’d been hired by the Cali Cartel to kill the leader of its main rival, the Medellin Cartel. In other words, McAleese’s mission was no less than to assassinate Pablo Escobar. The Scotsman and his buddies were to helicopter into Escobar’s compound. But McAleese’s chopper crashed in the Andes, injuring him badly. The plot was aborted. McAleese escaped and died in 2021, aged 79. Escobar was killed in a gun battle in 1993.^[1]

9 Gregor MacGregor, Prince of Poyais

Born on Christmas Eve 1786, Gregor MacGregor launched his military career conventionally enough by joining the British Army’s 57th Foot Regiment while still only a 16-year-old. The young man saw action in the Napoleonic Wars and eventually attained the rank of major before hanging up his sword in 1810. For his next adventure, his eyes turned to South America, and he arrived in Venezuela in 1812.
MacGregor was acquainted with the revolutionary leader General Francisco de Miranda, who accepted him into his forces as a colonel in the fight against the Spanish colonialists. MacGregor, who had awarded himself a knighthood, rose to be a general in the Venezuelan Army. His exploits included an attempt to seize Florida from the Spanish and a bid to found a colony in Nicaragua.

His most grandiose scheme, however, saw him taking the title of Prince of Poyais as he developed a colony in the Bay of Honduras. To do so, he enticed gullible British investors and prospective colonizers with false claims. They lost all their money, and the colony was a total disaster. Somehow, “Prince” Gregor walked away unscathed.^[2]

8 Patrick Leopold Gordon of Auchleuchries

Born in the northeast of Scotland in 1635, Patrick Gordon first left his native land while still a teenager. He traveled to the Polish city of what was then Danzig and is now Gdańsk, where he enrolled at a Jesuit college. A war between Poland and Sweden erupted in 1655, and that was when the young Gordon first became a mercenary. It seems he was none too choosy about who his employers were since he fought on both sides during the hostilities.

In 1661, Gordon walked away from both Poland and Sweden, electing to join the Russian army. With the rank of major, he gave useful service in 1661 by crushing civil disturbances in Moscow. After Peter the Great came to power in 1696, Gordon became a key adviser and even friend to the young Tsar, earning the rank of general. He played an important part in suppressing an attempted palace coup against Peter in 1698. He died a year later.^[3]

7 James Francis Edward Keith

Keith was a high-born Scot, the second son of the 9th Earl Marischal of Scotland. Despite that, he was forced to leave his homeland after becoming involved in the unsuccessful Jacobite attempt to seize the British throne in 1715. Fleeing to France, Keith ended up in Spain, where he became an officer in the Spanish Army. But since he was a Protestant in a Catholic country, his prospects were poor, so he left for Russia.

In 1728, Keith was made a colonel of a Russian regiment and fought against the Swedes. After his time with the Russians, it seems that Keith was keen for new pastures, and he joined the Prussian Army, seeing extensive action in the Seven Years’ War that convulsed much of Europe and North America. By now a Field Marshall, Keith fought at the 1758 Battle of Hochkirch in Germany when 80,000 Austrians faced 31,000 Prussians. The Austrians routed the Prussians killing 9,000 of them, including Keith.^[4]

6 Archibald Ruthven of Forteviot

Archibald Ruthven was born into a distinguished Scottish family—his father was Lord Ruthven. In 1572, Ruthven sailed for Scandinavia, where he accepted a post in the army of the Swedish king, Johan III. Johan’s first order was that the Scot should return to his homeland to recruit 2,000 mercenaries. In the event, he returned to Sweden with nearly 4,000 soldiers.

Ruthven became embroiled in a bitter dispute about his soldiers’ pay which resulted in the execution of one Scottish officer for embezzlement, Hugh Cahun. Before he was put to death, Cahun accused Ruthven, baselessly as far as we know, of plotting the assassination of King Johan. Apparently in the clear, Ruthven now sailed for Livonia on the Baltic Sea with his troops. There, a bitter dispute with their German allies resulted in the deaths of some 1,500 men. The upshot of this deadly squabble was that Ruthven was again accused of plotting against Johan. Despite his denials, the unfortunate Scot was imprisoned and died in jail.^[5]

5 Sir Harry Aubrey de Vere Maclean

Born into a well-to-do Scots family in 1848, the splendidly named Sir Harry Aubrey de Vere Maclean joined the British Army in 1869 and saw service in Canada, Gibraltar, and Bermuda. After seven years in the army, Maclean resigned his commission and accepted the position of a drill instructor in the army of the Sultan of Morocco, Mawlay Hassan.

Not long after he arrived in Tangier, Mclean took command of 400 infantry troops, with an increase in pay dependent on him learning Arabic, which he did. Abdul-Aziz succeeded Hussain as the sultan and retained Mclean’s services, sending him on missions to various Moroccan provinces. But life in Morocco was not without its perils; in 1907, the Scotsman was kidnapped and held for ransom for seven months. The following year Abdul-Aziz was deposed by his own brother Mawlay Abdul-Hafiz. The new sultan was minded to keep Mclean on, but the two couldn’t agree on a contract, so Mclean resigned, living out his days in Tangier until his death in 1920.^[6]

4 Peter Duffy

Raised in the northern Scottish town of Elgin, Peter Duffy was born into some privilege in 1941. He was sent to Gordonstoun, the same private school that King Charles attended a few years after. Later in life, Duffy was second-in-command of a group of mercenaries who went to engineer a coup in Seychelles Island in 1981.

Duffy’s commander was “Mad” Mike Hoare, a notorious mercenary of many years. Hoare and Duffy led a group of fighters drawn from ex-Rhodesian soldiers and ex-South African special forces. Armed to the teeth, the men flew into Seychelles aboard a commercial flight. Unfortunately for Duffy and his comrades, an airport official noticed an AK-47 in one man’s luggage. A gunfight ensued, and Duffy and others made good their escape by hijacking an Air India plane, leaving behind one dead comrade. Several of the conspirators were tried the next year in South Africa. Duffy got five years, Hoare 10. Duffy died a broken man in 1981.^[7]

3 George Sinclair

In 1612, Captain George Sinclair sailed from Scotland with a troop of Scottish mercenaries that he’d recruited in Caithness in the Scottish Highlands. They were to join the cause of King Charles IX of Sweden, who was fighting his neighbor Christian IV of Denmark. Sinclair and some 300 men landed in Norway with the intention of marching to Sweden.

The Scots had not bargained for the possibility that the Norwegians might not take kindly to a mercenary force tramping across their country. As it happened, the Norwegians were not at all happy. Seven days after Sinclair and his men had arrived on Norwegian soil, a local force launched a deadly ambush. As the Scots entered a narrow valley, the Norwegians rolled boulders down the slopes to block their escape routes. Once the rocks had been unleashed, musketeers picked off the mercenaries, killing more than 150. Sinclair was shot dead by a man named Berdon Sejelstad. The Scotsman’s wife and child, who had unwisely accompanied the ill-fated expedition, were also killed, although not before the woman had stabbed one of the Norwegians to death.^[8]

2 Redshanks

The Redshanks were mercenaries mostly recruited from the islands of the Hebrides off the coast of northwest Scotland, although mainland Highlanders joined in as well. In the 16th century, they went to fight for the Irish as they opposed the English invaders of the Emerald Isle. Life in the Highlands and islands of Scotland could be very tough, and men were glad to earn money paid to those who fought for Irish lords.

In one case, a regiment of Highland fighters came as a kind of wedding present. That was in 1569 when the Scottish Lady Agnes Campbell, daughter of the Earl of Argyll, married the Irish nobleman and chief Turlough Luineach O’Neill. She brought 1,200 Scottish mercenaries to the marriage. Unsurprisingly, the English were none too happy about the continual influx of Highland warriors arriving in Ireland. From the late 16th century, the English authorities began to pay off Highland clan chieftains. The payments—bribes might be the correct word—were made on the condition that the chiefs kept their men at home.^[9]

1 Alexander Leslie of Auchintoul

Alexander Leslie of Auchintoul was born into a landowning Scots family in 1590—Auchintoul is in the northeast of Scotland. Leslie started out fighting for the Poles in 1618 when he was captured by the Russians. They released him, and by 1629, he was employed by the Swedes. The Swedish king, Gustav II Adolf, sent him to Moscow, and Leslie tarried there in the service of the Tsar.

The Smolensk War, a conflict between Poland and Russia, broke out in 1632, and Leslie brought regiments of mercenaries from European countries, including England and Scotland, to fight for the Tsar. Returning to Scotland in 1637, Leslie embroiled himself in the Civil War of the time, on the wrong side. Captured in battle in the Scottish Borders, he narrowly escaped execution, the fate of many of his comrades. However, he was banished and never allowed to return to Scotland. Leslie returned to Russia, where he achieved the rank of general, the first Scot to do so. His achievements included seizing Smolensk from Polish control in 1654.^[10]