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Tuesday, November 24, 2020

Male mountain lion out scent marking in daylight

 At our old place, mountain lions have been out in daylight. In particular, my trail cams have picked up one male and one female. The female is hitting all of the "scrape" sites where male mountain lions leave their scent. I suspect that she's looking for a mate.

This short video shows the male marking in his territory, and then the female approaching the area where he scent marks. There will be a couple more chapters to this story because they seemed to track each other for a while.

I love knowing that these creatures are living out their rich lives in the midst of this increasingly human-dominated world. They go about their lives while remaining invisible almost all of the time. They are like the ghosts of the forest.

18 comments:

  1. oooh that's a little like phenny but it looks not as elegant as the lion ;O)

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  2. Love the soft coloring on the mountain lions. They are so beautiful.

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  3. We can't wait to see the rest of the story.

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  4. I am so grateful that, through your wonderful videos, you bring these beautiful, elusive animals into our homes far away.
    Thanks again! Gail.

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  5. I am always happy when your cam catches these beautiful animals in daytime and that last shot of the female walking through the sunshine is just absolutely breathtaking to me

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  6. Gorgeous cats! I had to look up the length of the pregnancy for mountain lions - just 91 days! When do you normally see the mother with kittens?

    Take care and stay well!

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  7. They are so serious as they scrape and pee, and then wander off, safe and trouble free and I truly hope they stay that way always. Beautiful colours, I did like the first one rubbing against the higher branch.

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  8. WooHoo we used to say Angel Madi dug a tunnel to nowhere, just like the Mt. lion, before she would pp.
    Loved this video
    Hugs Cecilia

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  9. I like your expression of "ghosts of the forest" - one wonders how often they are quietly watching totally unaware humans. I once heard of a bobcat sitting in a tree watching trail walkers, most of whom were completely unaware of it.
    I hope these two lions manage to keep surviving in their increasingly human environment.

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  10. So maybe in the future we will be seeing some new cubs:) We have learned so much about the animals in the wild from your posts and videos. Keep 'em coming!!!

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  11. Such amazing footage. Love seeing these guys in their natural habitat.

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  12. Sheesh - I've been working on this for years now. Cannot tell the difference between the males and females. You mentioned "fuzzy dice" some time back - but not obvious to me! Do females make scrapes too, or is that 100% male behavior?

    Befuddled -
    Chris from Boise

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    1. It is not easy at all to learn to "see" the signs. I had the top mountain lion researcher in the country teach me. I sent him my videos that were questionable, and he kindly went through them to tell me when in the videos to look for the signs. He taught me this: if you see anything lower than the anus (black dot or irregularities that could be furry testicles that are lower than the anus), it's a male. In this one, look closely at the 6 second mark. That was when my brain said "male". It is also true that females rarely scrape. However, I have seen one do a small scrape so that's not a 100% rule. Also, males sometimes do not scrape if they find that their own scent is the one that was most recently left there.

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  13. Beautiful. You respect their space and they respect ours.

    Have a fabulous day. Scritches to the pups. ♥

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  14. It is pretty amazing how the wild animals are so close to the humans, but we are so happy they are still out there doing what they do.

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  15. Fascinating. Thank you for sharing your world with us.

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