a lot of people tend to confuse cats showing their belly for belly rubs, but it’s actually only something dogs do, for cats its a sign of respect and trust, they are not expecting to get pet, so when they do it’s not uncommon they get startled or think its play fight, of course there are expectations and some cats who ADORES belly rubs
This is literally one of the freakiest sounds I have ever heard in my life, especially since Hollywood presents cougars making noise as them roaring like a lion.
It’s really just a very deep meow, since apparently cougars are the world’s biggest “small cats” of the subfamily Felinae (like housecats, servals, and forest cats) instead of the world’s smallest “big cats” of the subfamily Pantherinae (lions, tigers, panthers, etc.). It’s still fairly unsettling, especially if you’re just used to the meow of your average housecat.
Most pumas I’ve seen/heard in movies (usually Westerns) make the proper “scream” – a sort of rrrRRREEEAOW! noise – rather than a roar, along with a growl like an angry lawnmower.
On the cuter side, the larynx difference that means pumas (and cheetahs, and lynxes, and bobcats etc…) can’t roar does mean they can purr. And that sounds like a friendly lawnmower…
There's a Mirror on the Wall 