Mountain Lion Mom and Kittens Play!

My trail cams captured an extraordinary series of video clips of a mountain lion family. I believe that they are the mother and kittens who we've been following.

"Following" them started with the pair of mountain lions who were courting last summer, just about a year ago. Then, the mother herded her kittens from one den to another, passing by one of my cams, last fall when they were very young.

Now, those kittens are about 8 months old, and they were playing within a quarter mile of where we first spotted them.

At one point during their play, mom stood still, looking down toward where her kitten was hiding, just below the tree on the far left of the frame (you can't see him in this photo).

 Here he was, getting ready to hide.

He ducked down, and he waited for mom to move.

Mom made the first move - she's not visible in this photo. Her kitten leaped to get started chasing her.

To me, the coolest part of the footage that I captured is how much the family played together. It looked like mom actually instigated the play frequently! How cool is that? A huge fierce adult mountain lion, who is the queen of the forest, actually played like a kitten!

She also could be serious, like at this moment. Her kitten had just play-pounced on her but she seemed concerned about something. Both she (in front) and the kitten stood stock still gazing toward whatever was worrying them.

Usually, I try to keep my videos to about 2 minutes but I couldn't cut enough footage this time. This one is about 4 minutes long, and I hope that you enjoy it. It is unlikely that I'll ever capture footage like this again!