Behavioral Observations From a Mountain Lion Nursery in a Recolonizing Great Plains Population
Maximilian L. Allen, Colin Croft, Shannon P. Finnegan, Bethany H. Warner

TL;DR
Researchers observed a mountain lion family in a nursery using camera traps, revealing play and vocalization behaviors and highlighting the importance of nursery habitats during recolonization.
Contribution
The study provides detailed behavioral observations of neonatal mountain lions in a recolonizing population using camera trap data.
Findings
Play behaviors like chasing and wrestling were the most frequent activities observed among the kittens.
Camera traps showed limitations in detecting all individuals, potentially biasing abundance estimates.
Activity patterns were crepuscular and varied by individual and temporal resolution.
Abstract
Natal dens and neonatal behavior are a critical but understudied component of reproductive success in cryptic solitary carnivores. Mountain lion ( Puma concolor ) nursery sites tend to be in remote and difficult‐to‐observe areas—as a result, there are few in‐depth behavioral observations of neonatal mountain lions. In this study, we present detailed opportunistic observations from a week of continuous monitoring of a mountain lion nursery located in the Gilbert‐Baker Wildlife Management Area in northwestern Nebraska. Using a non‐invasive video camera trap, we recorded 403 videos comprising 76 distinct bouts of activity. We confirmed the presence of four kittens during the first day of monitoring; however, subsequent recordings consistently captured three or fewer individuals—with most videos featuring one (50.7%) or two (34.8%) kittens. This variation demonstrates the inherent…
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Taxonomy
TopicsWildlife Ecology and Conservation · Archaeology and Natural History · Yersinia bacterium, plague, ectoparasites research
