by yiwei | Aug 22, 2014 | field notes, santa cruz pumas, technology
Every month, one of our biologists goes up in a plane to try to locate all of our study animals and download the GPS information from their collars. Flying is the most efficient way to download the GPS data because we can cover much more ground than driving. We are...
by yiwei | Jan 10, 2014 | field notes, puma ecology
This week’s blog was co-written by Sean McCain (one of our field techs) Ever wonder how animals communicate using scent? Enter the flehmen response. The flehmen response is a communication behavior utilized by many mammals to identify pheromones left by...
by yiwei | Dec 16, 2013 | puma bios, puma ecology, santa cruz pumas
We’ve talked a lot on this blog about some of the common ways pumas get killed in the Santa Cruz Mountains. Most of the time, adult pumas die due to something human related (e.g., by being shot or hit with a car). Sometimes, pumas will also be killed by male...
by yiwei | Nov 6, 2013 | pumas in the news
Seems like a young puma from the North tried to get into the Santa Monica Mountains near LA. The Southern Californian freeways are even more difficult to cross than the ones in the Santa Cruz Mountains. Check out the article here. Also – there’s a great...
by yiwei | Oct 31, 2013 | field notes, puma bios, puma ecology, santa cruz pumas
This morning, we learned that 39M, the downtown puma from Santa Cruz, was hit and killed on Highway 17 around Vine Hill Road. When we caught the young male back in May, we recognized that his survival in the coming months would be difficult. After getting his new...
