A mountain lion with a thirst for knowledge kicked up a bit of a fuss for a California high school on June 1 after it wandered into the building and hid beneath a desk. The learned young lion has since been removed and nobody, including the animal, was harmed.

Mountain lions (Puma concolor) are large cats native to North and South America which are specially protected in California. They’re also known as pumas, cougars, or panthers, and aren’t an uncommon sight in the state though they can be a slightly hair-raising one (as this anxiety-inducing video of one man's six-minute encounter with an angry momma mountain lion demonstrates).

Staff at Pescadero High School were understandably a little concerned, then, when on Wednesday morning as they were due to open, a juvenile lion was seen on the school’s grounds. Acknowledging that a mountain lion wasn't exactly conducive to learning, they contacted the San Mateo County Sheriff’s Office at 8.23 am after shutting the animal inside an English classroom.