Notes from Marilyn Cuthill’s Journal - While on a routine check of a cougar…
Peering into the vivid opal-green eyes of a mountain lion I found myself once again negotiating life. She was growling in a steady low pitch as I turned my head and saw her crouched in the roots of a downfallen log. Ears back, her chest expanded defining all the muscles in her upper body and her ears were back. Instantly, in the same second that I noticed her tail twitching, she launched herself toward me. When she landed, she stood before me close enough to touch. Our eyes locked. I had been tracking her for three years, understood that she had kittens and she was here to defend them. I held my 5’3”, 120-pound frame solid and began a careful, steady, backward retreat. However, partnered in a slow catwalk, she followed each of my steps with an advancing step of her own. I began to channel a deep tunnel from my heart to hers, when suddenly and uncharacteristically she stood confused, pumping her body, shaking her head then swatting one paw into the air. She broke our gaze and taking advantage; I gained a more comfortable distance between us. It was enough to reassure her that I was leaving. She oversaw my departure keeping our distance at about 30 meters despite the fact we shared this wide-open mountaintop.
In the years of tracking Female 101, she always exhibited tenacity and an innate sense of focus. She raised four litters, 2 to 3 kittens each. She was cagey, outsmarting trailing hounds by meandering across logs and streams to hide her scent and tantalize them by bedding down, leaving scant but confirmed scent, only to elude the dogs seconds later. Characteristically she denned in the thicket of downfallen trees at the crest of a mountain, using the wind to scent for predators. The cover offered a dry place for kittens and the vantage point allowed her to hunt at dusk and dawn traversing the vast landscape with the ability to return quickly. While with kittens, she regularly took down elk up to five or six times her size. Her prey preferences while without kittens, depending on the season, were smaller: mule deer, grouse, and calf elk. F 101 died curled up under a tree, without sign of struggle, at thirteen years old. F 101 died of old age, curled up at the base of a large Douglas fir tree, at thirteen years old.
Ecology has branched out of natural history and has matured into a more rigorous science. Though hard to quantify, the daily tracker is aware of clues regarding relationships and specific behaviors ancillary to the study questions. Much of the behavioral and social interactions we witness are void in our final analysis. As scientists, we collect, sort and statistically analyze data. As naturalists we observe, listen, and discover. Cougar biologists are routinely reminded that mountain lions are wild creatures that modulate their own populations and by occupying large territories, they have the capacity to drive an entire ecosystem into balance.
Up until five years ago, adoption was undocumented in the social association of mountain lions. Dispersing kittens generally leave their mothers between 18 and 24 months of age. The Teton Cougar Project’s first collared female, F 1, was 12 years old with three 14-month-old kittens when an outfitter shot her in a legal hunt. Her kittens remained at the site. After two weeks the female kitten left her brothers and was located feeding on a spike elk.
The orphaned brothers, traveling together, later found their way to their sister and within 24 hours, radio telemetry matched them residing with another family group, F 27 and her three 6 month old kittens.
The canyon, occupied by the F 27 family group, is representative of perfect cat habitat, diverse with rock outcroppings, a riparian rich river bottom and covered with an array of prey species. As researchers, we could not know what to expect with two males joining another family group. Our curiosity compelled us into the canyon every day. Over the next 3 weeks F 27, was hunting more and making kills more frequently to feed her new family of six. The extended F 27 family group had opened a window into their secretive lives and we began to immerse ourselves in behavioral ecology. We watched F 27 with M 21, her sister’s kitten, lying side by side in the sun on a ledge of a rocky cliff, grooming one another and taking catnaps while dodging the playfully pouncing of the three younger kittens. The day following an extensive display of rubbing necks and licking one another, mom and adopted kitten separated. M 21 dispersed and became the resident male covering an area of 200 sq. km inclusive of F 1 and F 27’s territories. Brother M 64 dispersed 2 weeks prior to that and sister F 69, self-sufficient for four years, died of starvation (wolf tracks were found at her last three kills). We speculated that the wolves might have pushed F 69 off her kills before she could feed.
Years after witnessing this event, we have had another opportunity to observe communal behavior in mountain lions. With increased bear and wolf activities at collared lion kill sites, two mothers with two kittens each, have come together several times to share a kill, sleep closely nestled together, groom one another, and nurture kittens. Until DNA samples authenticate our suspicions, we suspect the two adult females are sisters; two of the three young kittens observed in the cliffs 5 years prior. As we viewed these 6 cats from behind the magnification of a scope we asked ourselves many questions but one in particular. Has this behavior gone undetected or is this a new strategy for cougars, sharing and defending resources in the presence of other top carnivores?
Our understanding of cougar ecology is an ongoing menagerie of discoveries changing over time with wildlife populations experiencing inter-and intra-specific strife. It is clearly understandable that we fall short of keeping pace but through research we attempt to gain understanding into the complex dynamic and the drivers behind an ecosystems’ balance.
— An excerpt from Marilyn Cuthill’s 2016 Journal detailing on of her many experiences and observations tracking mountain lions.
March is Here!
March 15th
Have you spotted a robin or two yet?! During March the snow begins to melt unearthing thawed soil full of earthworms and other bugs; in other words, the robin diner is open for business!
This week keep an eye out for:
Elk on the move! As the snow melts, dried plants become visible and some elk will begin to leave the National Elk Refuge to seek out new food sources. Over the next few weeks they’ll be traveling north as the snow-line recedes.
Red-tailed and Swainson’s hawks! These gorgeous birds are some early arrivals in the spring and are returning to claim nesting territories. Because they’ll be soaring close to their nest site, this can be the best time to locate nesting hawks and ravens.
Budding aspen, cottonwood, and mountain alder! These trees will begin budding towards the end of the month leading to even more animal activity.