Photos and text copyright Romping and Rolling in the Rockies 2009-2017.

All photographs and text within this blog are copyrighted.

You may not copy or repost any photos or text without specific permission from the author of this blog. When in doubt, please ask.

Friday, June 21, 2019

A Curious Mountain Lion Checks Out a Lion Marking Area

A young mountain lion was in our neck of the woods recently. My trail cam first captured his movement a bit to the east of here. Eventually, he made it to a favorite mountain lion marking spot quite nearby. He walked into a clearing and sat quietly.

Soon, he moved toward the spot where lions have scent marked for a long time. It's a spot where the pine needles are scraped into a big pile by lions who kick backward with their hind paws ("scrape").

Next, the lion sniffed the air.

After he sniffed, I fully expected him to mark that spot himself but he did not. "He" never gave us a view of his hind end that would give us an idea of whether he's a male or female. The fact that this lion did not scent mark makes me think that the lion might be a female.

The lion stood still for a moment...

...and then walked close to my cam as he departed.
You can see the faint bars of darker fur on the inside of his right front limb. That's part of why I think that this lion is young, despite being full grown.

This clearing was the sole territory of our big tom cat who was killed this winter. Now, several different mountain lions have visited it. I wonder which of them will take up residence in this "open" territory.

I compiled the footage into a short video I especially love how slowly and thoughtfully the lion acted while in the clearing. It's a rare kind of daytime behavior to see!


19 comments:

  1. i am so happy to see this stunning creature in color. the shot looking into the cam is perfect. when he/she walked into the clearing, sat looking around, i felt love in my heart for her/him... in other words watching her watching i felt it to the bottom of my heart...

    ReplyDelete
  2. Such a beautiful cat. It is interesting that the lion didn't mark where the others have.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Now this is a big feline. Wow, so beautiful.

    Thank you for joining the Feline Friday Blog Hop.

    Have a fabulous Feline Friday and weekend. ♥

    ReplyDelete
  4. Fantastic pictures of a beautiful animal. It is posing for the camera in the first picture!

    ReplyDelete
  5. What a gorgeous cat. Beautiful to watch. I hope you see her/him often. I am still sad about the one that was killed :-(

    ReplyDelete
  6. She is so beautiful and her fur looks so soft.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Absolutely gorgeous. Even after being owned by cats for 30 years, it still amazes me how many traits they share with their wild cousins.
    Hugs Cecilia

    ReplyDelete
  8. The look on his/her face made me think he was young too. Beautiful footage!
    xoxo,
    Rosy, Jakey & Arty

    ReplyDelete
  9. Just absolutely beautiful. We loved the video that you shared. We think they could be a younger and still is growing up. Thanks for the share. Have a wonderful day.
    World of Animals

    ReplyDelete
  10. S/he is a magnificent animal. Hope to see more of her/him in future.

    ReplyDelete
  11. That is amazing and such a gorgeous critter!

    ReplyDelete
  12. Such a big beautiful cat! I enjoyed your commentary.
    Thank you for sharing. Lovely Solstice to you!

    ReplyDelete
  13. that was the best five minutes I have spent in days. what a beautiful (my vote is girl) I hope we see more of her.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Exceptionally nice footage! Thank you so much for sharing. I'm partial to cats, as you know :)

    ReplyDelete
  15. He - or she - is a beauty, that's for sure!
    Jan, Wag 'n Woof Pets

    ReplyDelete

If you are a Blogger registered user, you can skip the step asking you to verify that you are not a spammer. For posts older than 5 days, I have comment moderation turned on.

Thanks for your comments!!!!!