To collar or not to collar?
Although we like to get as much information as possible about pumas in the Santa Cruz Mountains as possible, there are cases where we choose not to collar animals for their safety. Last night, when we were attempting to catch an uncollared female, one of her three...
Why’s that puma snarling at the camera?
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...
Video: Female puma & cubs
A trail camera we have posted at a puma scent marking site caught this brief glimpse into the busy life of a mother puma. Believe it or not, despite hundreds or thousands of trail camera videos of pumas traveling, this is the first one we've captured of a...
Collateral damage: When people kill pumas without knowing it [GRAPHIC PHOTOS]
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 pumas...
National Geographic’s Cool Cougar Story
National Geographic published a fantastic feature on urban pumas in their December issue. The article includes an interactive map of pumas around Los Angeles, as well as a stunning photo of an adult male puma walking through the hills of Griffith Park - a...
Young Scientists Club and Wetland Stewards
We have had a great time over the last two weeks speaking with the future scientists and conservationists of Santa Cruz County. About one hundred students from the Young Scientists Club at Westlake Elementary joined us to chat about puma biology and how to live with...
Why collar kittens?
The Santa Cruz Puma Project was recently granted permission to start tracking puma kittens by fitting them with GPS collars when they are about four weeks old. We have received some questions from the public about why we want to follow the kittens from early on in...
Into the Lion’s Den – 44M & 45M
Lion 23F gave birth to a litter of kittens about 4 weeks ago near Forest of Nisene Marks State Park. Our team visited her current nursery site today and found 2 feisty 5 ½ pound kittens, known to our project now as 44M and 45M. We briefly handled them to fit them...
Crossing highways (LA edition)
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 article about...
Crossing highways
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...
