![]() One of the main ways they do so is by making ‘scrapes.’ Pumas, particularly adult males, will dig small holes and then urinate on the pile of loose soil created by the digging. Once pumas reach adulthood, they live solitary lives, but still need to communicate with each other. His dogs had tracked and treed an adult puma. After a few hours of searching, Dan’s voice finally crackled over the radio. If a hungry lion moves the deer, the GPS tag sends an email to the team, who then head out to investigate. This includes laying out road-killed deer with GPS tags in areas thought to be big cat territory. The team employs several other techniques to determine if lions are in the area. Paul searched there for footprints and other telltale mountain lion signs. Traveling pumas rarely obey traffic rules, and tend to cut corners when walking along roads. Click on image to see a larger size.Īs we made our way through the redwoods, Paul occasionally slowed and peered out through the side window of the truck, surveying the dust that accumulates in the inside of the curves of the dirt roads. Paul Houghtaling and Pilot Mark Dedon secure radio antennas used to upload GPS and accelerometer data from the collared pumas. The remaining young male pumas are forced to disperse and seek new territories, and it is often these individuals that get into trouble with humans. Adult males create their home ranges to include female mountain lions and exclude other males. Paul informed us that female mountain lions tend to set their ranges depending on prey availability, which in the Santa Cruz Mountains tends to be deer. While mother pumas will remain in one area to raise their kittens, pumas generally patrol their territories without making use of any den or other home base. ![]() Lead by Chris Wilmers, an Associate Professor of Environmental Studies at University of California Santa Cruz, the team has gained renown for their work tracking the big cats in the Santa Cruz Mountains, as well as some high profile captures of pumas that ventured too close to human habitations.Īs an apex predator in our Northern California region, mountain lions have huge home ranges. On a beautiful summer day, we had the opportunity to follow Field Biologist Paul Houghtaling of the Santa Cruz Puma Project (SCPP) as he searched the rough back roads of the CEMEX Redwoods Property in Davenport, CA. Photo by Paul Houghtailing, Santa Cruz Puma Project. ![]() GPS tracking collars shed light into the mysterious lifestyles of this apex predator. As ambush predators, pumas are professional hiders, and even regular visitors to puma habitat will likely go their entire lives without ever catching sight of North America’s largest cat. Call them pumas, mountain lions, cougars, panthers, or any other of their various monikers the sight of one of these full-grown cats staring down at you from a nearby tree is undeniably exhilarating.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |