The mountain lion strangled by a Colorado man after it attacked him on a jogging trail last month was a young cub, weighing no more than 40 pounds (18 kg) and likely orphaned but not starving, state wildlife officials said on Friday.

The encounter between the young predator and Travis Kauffman garnered international headlines when authorities revealed that the 31-year-old man had not only survived a rare mountain lion attack but had suffocated the cat by stepping on its throat.

A necropsy - the animal equivalent of an autopsy - showed the cougar was 4 to 5 months old, based on the condition of its teeth, and the results confirmed Mr Kauffman's account of the struggle, Colorado Parks and Wildlife said in a statement. "The cause of death was determined to be ... blunt trauma and strangulation," the agency said.

Mr Kauffman recounted his harrowing tale at a news conference last week. He said on February 4, he was jogging on the Horsetooth Mountain Open Space, about 65 miles (105 km) northwest of Denver, when he heard pine needles rustling and turned to see a cougar staring him down. "I was bummed out to see a mountain lion," he told reporters.