Bison, wolves, grizzly bears, and elk are all categorized as “charismatic megafauna.” These are animals that have popular appeal to many and are often used as symbols of wildness.

Not so often mentioned under this category is the mountain lion, also known as the puma, the panther, and the cougar. And while these big cats often fly under the proverbial radar of wildlife advocates, not only are they out there, but their range is expanding and they’re showing up in some previously unlikely places.

While their historic range once covered the entire country, these days the known range for mountain lions has been west of the Rocky Mountain Front, which runs north to south from Montana down through Colorado and New Mexico. But there are exceptions. Lions have been spotted in Wisconsin, Mississippi, Tennessee, and even as far east as Connecticut and Massachusetts, according to the author.

In his new book, Jim Williams provides ample details about the biology and behavior of mountain lions. A wildlife biologist, Williams takes us along as he travels from Montana all the way south to Patagonia. There, Tompkins Conservation has helped fund a new chain of national parks that provide ideal habitat for pumas.

There’s a success story to be told, but it’s one with a mixed outcome, he notes.

“America’s vast public lands, and Patagonia’s newly conserved parks, are a bulwark against the crush of humanity,” writes Williams. “But the trajectory—despite the recent success and expansion of Puma concolor —is toward more people and less wild nature. Predators will continue to prey on livestock. Ungulates will continue to compete for grass. Mountain lions will continue to prey on pets. Subdivisions will continue to consume habitat. Hunters will continue to compete with carnivores. Game managers will continue to be pressured by hunters.”

And yet, the book falls short if you’re looking for insights into the species’ efforts to reclaim historic habitat in North America. With the text split almost evenly between Montana and Patagonia, Path of the Puma fails to delve into the dispersal of mountain lions east across the United States despite the two-page map on the book’s front and back end sheets tracing this movement.

There’s just a passing mention of the highly endangered Florida panther, and no mention of the plight of lions in the Santa Monica Mountains in California, another population suffering from inbreeding and urbanization. And little is known of the lions seen in Connecticut, Massachusetts, and New York.

There’s more to be told of the path of the puma, and perhaps we will see that book in the future.