Crimson the cougar had a life-saving leg amputation. Image: Turpentine Creek Wildlife Refuge

At first, the video seems to feature an empty habitat. There’s a crate filled with hay, platforms of various heights, and a ball hanging from a rope. Then a furry head peaks out from behind the crate. A few seconds later, a large wild cat bounds into view, rushing toward whoever is holding the camera. The young mountain lion ( Puma concolor ) appears so happy to see the videographer that you almost can’t tell he has only three legs.

Crimson Cougar Cub Plays Peek a Boo

“Crimson was just three weeks old when National Park Service biologists and then California Department of Fish and Wildlife determined he had been abandoned,” Emily McCormack , an animal curator at Turpentine Creek Wildlife Refuge in northwest Arkansas, tells Popular Science .…