There’s a creature taking over the pop culture scene. She’s confident, successful, and she knows what she wants: a younger man.

She’s a cougar.

Ilona Paris, author of “Hot Cougar Sex” (Skyhorse Publishing, $12.95), says a cougar is a woman who’s “40-plus, give or take some years. She’s someone who’s very accomplished, She’s in great shape. And I think she’s very empowered.”

The term “cougar” — used to describe a mature woman who prefers younger men — quietly slipped into popular use a couple of years ago. The Canadian dating site cougardate.com, (which bears a 2000 copyright date) is given credit for the term.

Now everywhere you look — movies, TV, the high seas — there’s a cougar on the prowl.

Here are just a few places she’s being spotted.

** “Cougar Town,” premiering Sept. 23 on ABC, stars Courteney Cox-Arquette as single mom Jule Cobb, an older woman looking for younger men.

* Pitched as the sexiest new travel trend, cougars can find love on the high seas onboard the *International Cougar Cruise, Dec. 4-7, sponsored by the Singles Travel Company (www.singlestravelcompany .com).

* The first *National Single Cougars Convention took place in August at a hotel in Palo Alto, Calif. The convention culminated with the crowning of this year’s Miss Cougar America — Gloria Navarro, a 42-year-old, newly divorced suburban management consultant from Redwood City, Calif.

“Pumas,” an in-development flick, stars Jennifer Aniston as an aspiring cougar, who just wants to party with her friends (and lots of younger men).

* “Saturday Night Live’s” semi-regular skit, *"Cougar Den," lampoons the cougs as they look for love — and scare it off.

* Online dating site *Urbancougar.com offers dating advice, as well as health and pop culture stories.

There’s also www.gocougar.com, www.cougared.com, www.cougarcandystore.com and www.dateacougar.com, featuring an online chat room, The Cougar Lounge.