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Sunday, November 13, 2016

As the Mountain Lion World Turns

As many of you know, I adore following our wild cats: bobcats and mountain lions. Last summer, we had a mother mountain lion who had small kittens in our neck of the woods.

This was my first glimpse of one of them. The spotted kitten is in front of his mother.

Very soon, his sibling caught up and is by his mother's hind legs in the photo.

These photos were in a dark forested area. Just a short time later, the family passed through a brightly lit area where my cam captured color photos of them. In this photo, mom is just leaving the frame and a kitten is behind her.

The kitten dawdled a little, probably sniffing the tree - which is a tree that is frequently marked by bears.

That was the last that I saw of the family. In fact, my trail cams captured no photos of mountain lions for a long time - a fact that left me very concerned about our wild cats.

Now, many months later, mountain lions have returned to our area. I seem to be capturing photos of them at least once per week. Phew!

In the interim, the study that was following lions wearing GPS collars ended. The researchers tried to capture all the lions in the study last winter to remove their collars. They did a pretty good job although there is at least one lion in our neck of the woods who is still wearing a collar.

One pair that I've gotten photos of has intrigued me because it could be a kitten and a mother from that family photographed last summer. They may have moved to another niche in our area for the past year.

The first set of photos was of a youngish looking lion. He came up a hill toward my trail cam.

Like most young lions I've seen in this spot, the scents of the animal marking post next to him caused him to freeze and sniff. Note the very black "mustache" spot above his mouth - that's one sign that he's young.


Another sign is that his body doesn't look proportioned normally yet. His legs look too short for the rest of him.

Nonetheless, he looks extremely strong and healthy. He's about the right age to be nearing the end of his time with his mother. He's also about the right age to be one of those tiny kittens who we saw more than a year ago in the first photos of this post.

Later that evening, a larger lion who had the proportions of an adult walked past the trail cam very fast.
I suspect that this is his mother. At the kitten's age, the mother will leave him with the carcass of their last kill while she goes hunting for their next meal.

I really wish that I'd captured photos of them together. I will be watching and hoping that I do!

22 comments:

  1. They are so amazing but I'm glad they are in your neck of the woods instead of mine!

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  2. KB, are the collars designed to come apart at some point? Or will the researchers come back to get them off if they hear that a collared animal has been sighted? I hate to think of animals left with equipment attached to them, and especially collars - which I think have an inherent risk anyway.

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    1. That's a great question, Quinn. I've been debating whether I should tell the Div of Wildlife about that collared lion. The problem was that I didn't check the camera until about a month after he'd passed it so he certainly wasn't still nearby when I found out about him. Perhaps I should ask the DOW if they'd like me to tell them if I see him again. I don't think that the collars will come apart but I'm not absolutely sure.

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  3. I think the big cats are my favorite of your wildlife. They're simply stunning!

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  4. The distinctive sniffing with the mouth open is called 'flehming', it seems to enhance the smell that the cat wants to get more of. All cats do this, including my own little tuxedo, the first time I saw her do this, I was puzzled as I hadn't owned a cat before. It does look very weird! https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flehmen_response

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    1. Thanks for bringing this up. That young lion was definitely onto a scent that interested him a great deal. The intriguing part is that it's been about a year since a mountain lion last marked that area. Either the lion could still smell it or he was responding to other animals' scents that have been left there. I've seen this kind of sniffing in deer and elk but never in cats. Thanks for the insight!

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  5. All so beautiful, and thanks to you and your trail cams, we get to see those animals that might otherwise be just a dream.Love the spotted kittens.

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  6. We do enjoy following the lives of the wildlife you capture and detail for us. Great photos too.

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  7. Once again you have given us a marvelous insight into the lives of these great animals. Amazing.

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  8. Once again you have given us a marvelous insight into the lives of these great animals. Amazing.

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  9. I held my breath as I scrolled through your photos -- They are truly amazing pictures and I continue to be in awe of your amazing world.

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  10. I'm with Kim, holding my breath as I watched each picture come up. What beautiful animals.....

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  11. The young one looks very healthy!
    hugs
    Mr Bailey, Hazel & Mabel

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  12. I always look forward to your mountain lion sightings, such beautiful cats!

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  13. I'm so glad they are back... they are wonderful animals... and they are one reason more that we always try to treat mother nature with respect...

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  14. What beautiful photos! Love the cats!

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  15. I love these! I'm so glad they reappeared. I too get worried about wild life if I don't see a particular someone around.

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  16. You capture such great photos from the trail cameras! You live among amazing wildlife. Thank you for sharing them with us.

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  17. amazing captures as always. so glad they are back and strong and healthy

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  18. Wow,,, wow,, wow,, beautiful photos!
    love
    tweedles

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