Making Tracks
On the Trail of a Mountain Lion The footprint was in the middle of the trail. It was shallow, but perfect, and the early morning light threw each large pad into sharp relief, making it stand out from the...
Mule Deer: Unicorns in the Garden
Once upon a sunny morning a man who sat in a breakfast nook looked up from his scrambled eggs to see a white unicorn with a golden horn quietly cropping the roses in the garden. —James Thurber, “The Unicorn...
Mountain Lion P-65
Adult female mountain lion P-65 is the first mountain lion in a two-decade-long National Park Service (NPS) research study to have died of complications from notoedric mange, a highly contagious skin disease caused by a mite parasite. P-65 was...
Mountain lion kittens test positive for rodenticide poisoning in postmortem examination
Back in November, four mountain lion kittens, P-100, P-101, P-102, and P-103 were discovered in a Thousand Oaks office complex, orphaned by their mother. P-100 and P-102 died a few days after being discovered, while the remaining two kittens...
Genetic Isolation Takes Toll on Local Mountain Lions
A UCLA-led study suggests that genetic isolation is impacting isolated local mountain lion populations more rapidly than previously thought. Scientists tracking two local mountain lion populations, one in the Santa Monica Mountains and another in the Santa Anas, knew...
Wildlife Crossing Project Receives $25 Million Challenge Grant
The Annenberg Foundation has made a record $25 million grant to the National Wildlife Federation to help fund the Liberty Canyon wildlife crossing over the 101 Freeway. The Annenberg Foundation is challenging other philanthropic organizations and individuals to match...
Animal Undercrossing Update
Vehicle strikes take a terrible toll on local wildlife, but a joint Caltrans and National Park Service project is helping improve wildlife safety and connectivity on a 12-mile stretch of the 118 freeway, west of the north end of...
Envisioning a Poison Free Life
Anticoagulant rodenticide has been described as the new DDT, indiscriminately killing animals throughout the food chain in an unsuccessful effort to control rodents, in the same way that DDT poisoned the environment with little effect ultimately on the target...
Landmark Los Angeles Area Wildlife Crossing on Track with $18 Million
The National Wildlife Federation’s #SaveLACougars campaign announced that fundraising for the wildlife crossing at Liberty Canyon over the 101 Freeway reached a pivotal $18 million-mark last month. This includes a recent $1.4 million gift from a private donor—bringing the...
Summer of Kittens
Hello, kitties! National Park Service biologists have proclaimed 2020 in the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area as the Summer of Kittens. A total of 13 kittens were born to five mountain lion mothers between May and August 2020....
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