WildFutures' Wildlife Webinar Series Archive

Mountain Lion Kittens: Trials, Triumphs, and Tragedies
Growing up mountain lion is no easy chore, especially in rugged northwest Wyoming, where winters are bitter cold and predators prowl the landscape. Join Mark Elbroch, Lead Scientist for Panthera's Puma Program, and host Sharon Negri in an intimate portrait of kittens covering the time period from den to dispersal. Mark will share videos, anecdotes, and scientific data that will illuminate the little-known lives of tiny cougars.
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About the Presenter - Dr. Mark Elbroch serves as the Lead Scientist for Panthera's Puma Program, based in Kelly, Wyoming. Dr. Elbroch designs current puma research, manages and leads project operations, and directs the analysis of project data gathered in the field. He has contributed to puma research and conservation in Idaho, Wyoming, Colorado, California, Mexico and Chile, as well as worked as a wildlife consultant across North America, specializing in field inventories, the identification of wildlife corridors, and in supporting capture efforts of diverse species. In 2005, Dr. Elbroch was awarded a Senior Tracker Certificate in Kruger National Park, South Africa by CyberTracker Conservation, after successfully following lions across varied terrain. He is the Initial Evaluator for Cyber Tracker Evaluations in North America, where they have been used to test observer reliability in wildlife research and as an educational tool by nonprofit organizations. In 2015, he was awarded an honorary Master Tracker Certificate for contributions to the field.

Dr. Elbroch is a regular contributor to National Geographic’s CatWatch Blog and has authored and coauthored 10 books on natural history, including two award-winning books on wildlife tracking. Dr. Elbroch is also a 2011 Switzer Fellow. Find out more from the ​Teton Cougar Project Facebook page and Cougar Channel Kitten Research. 

Follow Up Questions 

At what age does a cougar kitten's blue eyes start turning towards gold, and about how long does the change take?
Generally about 6 months but some cats will carry blue eyes their entire lives (the small proportion).
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Hunting often orphans kittens. While there are surely exceptions, at what age are kittens likely able to fend for themselves?
We as a community of folks studying mountain lions don’t have much data to work with—often kittens just disappear and we are unable to determine their fate (this is why the little expandable collars are so valuable). But I think it’s safe to say that most folks agree that kittens orphaned less than 9 months old have little chance of survival. And then the older they are, the greater their chances of survival. If 12 months old, it may be as high as a 50% chance of survival…but again we have few numbers to work with.
 
What are your thoughts on the hunting quotas that states set on cougar populations? Will lions be able to withstand hunting pressures along with the loss of habitat from growing human populations?
 Every state varies. Yes, in some areas there is over-hunting, sometimes purposeful to meet agency objectives, which include elk and mule dynamics, and input from local communities. The leopard paper I mentioned that talks about how long a population needs to recover its social systems after hunting is stopped is this one: Fattebert et al. 2016. Population recovery highlights spatial organization dynamics in adult leopards. Journal of Zoology

What is the status of the Teton Cougar Project re: permits from the Nat'l Forest and WY Game & Fish? I have read about changes coming in the way you are allowed to conduct research. 
Yes, we are ending December, 2016. 

What is Dr Elbroch's opinion of reducing cougar numbers to enhance the populations of human-hunted species (mule deer, elk, etc.)?
There is little evidence that reducing mountain lions aids elk or mule deer dynamics—except when a prey is already rare (meaning there are few of them, like in a bighorn sheep reintroduction effort—but in these cases any mortality is bad because there are so few animals). In fact, a recent intensive, long-term study from the Idaho Department of Fish and Game emphasized that removing mountain lions and coyotes did not provide any long-term benefit to deer populations. The researchers reported: "In conclusion, benefits of predator removal appear to be marginal and short term in southeastern Idaho and likely will not appreciably change long-term dynamics of mule deer populations in the intermountain west" (Hurley et al. 2011).
 
The proposed mountain lion culling in western CO is particularly disturbing because the study design for the work north of Rifle lacks the details needed to test whether there is a positive effect on mule deer. Sure, they’ll show that less fawns are killed by predators, but that is a small piece of the story and does not necessarily translate to increased mule deer. So much to discuss but they need to design work that studies population dynamics of mule deer, at minimum, to know whether killing cats and bears helps deer. And this is just a critical response to their proposed project design—evidence suggests that this will not work, and also note that deer are already increasing in the site they’ve selected north of Rifle. 

I thought F109 just passed away?
Yes, she did. The video was from years past.

Generally, we hear that female pumas don't enter estrus while raising kittens. Was the 9-month-old being told to leave an anomaly, or are we rethinking that hypothesis?
We’ve seen lots of females enter estrous while they still have kittens…it may be time to compile numbers across studies and challenge this assumption.

As I know, Lynx lynx and Lynx pardina kittens at some time period might kill their siblings. Had you seen same behavior for mountain lions?
We can’t say whether we have documented this behavior. We have several instances where a sibling ate another, but we always believed the one eaten was dead before they became food. We know this was true in 2 of 3 cases that I can remember. The third, I’m not sure why the kitten died—maybe predation.

Regarding supermom F109 - do you consider her natural death at 10+ years of age an anomaly in your study area, or even the GYE? If so, what in your opinion, beyond luck, enabled her to live out such a long life?
 She’s an anomaly in a hunted population, where cats don’t often live that long. But in a natural population, I think 10 years would be very normal for female mountain lions.

Is it most common for them to have 2 kittens and sometimes 3?
The average in our study system in NW Wyoming is 3—we’ve seen 1-5.

What brand of collars do you use?
We use Vectronics Globalstar and Lotek Globalstar and Iridium (at the moment)—1D battery packs.

Here in Florida, mercury is regularly present in Florida Panthers due to the hydrology and prey availability. Do environmental toxicants affect pumas in Wyoming at all?
That’s a great question. In truth, we haven’t looked for it. We’ve had one incident of rodenticide poisoning…but otherwise I don’t think we’ve even checked. I do know a local researcher who is beginning to look at Mercury in fish—perhaps he’ll expand to mountain lions and other animals!

Why wolves affect both the survival of the cubs?
Direct killing, mostly, but no doubt indirect effects too. We are the third study to show an increase in mountain lion starvation across age classes following wolf recolonization.

I have lived in mountain lion habitat in CO & CA.  Many people in both areas have lost domestic cats & dogs. (Usually people who also have backyard chickens.)  How do you advise people to prevent this situation? Also, any safety advice to prevent an incident while hiking with dogs? 
It’s the normal mountain lion that runs. Here are some resources for living in mountain lion country:
Does a female ever use the same den for a future litter?
 We’ve not seen them use the exact same den, but several times they’ve used the same piece of hillside—within 500 meters of previous dens.

I understand the project is ending this year. Is that correct?
Yes, though we have some non-invasive work that will continue into next year.

Ethologist like Frans de Waal documented a culture among animals such as primates, dolphins and fish - what about mountain lions?
Yes there is a culture—stay tuned we are just about to publish a paper on this very subject (well submit it for review).

When looking for social behavior in feline I found a picture of Dr. Quigley portraying a mountain lions large pride - were they sisters with kittens or a single mother with a huge litter of kittens?
Not sure of the photo—but it was likely M21, F51, F61 and their kittens—7 cats at a kill. That photo was taken by Drew Rush working for National Geographic. This was the resident male, two adult females and 4 kittens…

Have recorded females using same den after years?
We’ve not seen them use the exact same den, but several times they’ve used the same piece of hillside—within 500 meters of previous dens. 

Any kittens abandoned after the event of going into the den?
​No. Occasionally we’ve had them move their den, but even that has been uncommon.

Do you see much inbreed in mountain lions, or do you see a trend in it? Because if the population is declining, the changes of inbreed increase. Or is the population still healthy (big) enough?
We do not see inbreeding depression where we work, but it is an issue in other mountain lion populations—take for instance the Santa Monica Mountains in California. 

Did research indicate that kitten survival rate improved in females' 2nd litters (i.e. with experience/maturity)? 
We haven't formally looked at this question so I can't give an unbiased response. Anecdotally, F51 and F61 had higher survival in earlier litters than late. F109 as well. F47 had higher survival in later litters. F57 died at 9 and never successfully raised a kitten until dispersal.
 
I assume the vast majority of infanticide occurs when a new male takes over territory or is this incorrect? 
That is the assumption, yes. I think in mountain lions, we need to pull together data from across projects to better assess whether it’s true or not.