Puma Profiles: P-114, a Mountain Lion Kitten From the Simi Hills

Puma kittens at their den, surrounded by poison oak. NPS photo.

P-114

Mountain lion P-77 gave birth to three female kittens in the Simi Hills, a small patch of habitat between the larger Santa Monica and Santa Susana mountain ranges. The kittens — now P-113, P-114 and P-115 — were found in a dense thicket of poison oak among large boulders, and all looked healthy.

This was the 25th litter Park Service biologists have marked at the den. They have also marked four more litters found when the kittens were at least six months old and traveling with their mother.

How a den visit works

• Biologists visit only while the mother is away — hunting, feeding or resting. One tracks her by telemetry while the others approach the den.
• The kittens are checked a short distance from the den and then put back, usually in less than an hour.
• The team records each kitten's sex, takes body measurements including weight, collects biological samples, and fits one uniquely numbered, colored ear tag, so the kitten can be recognized later on remote cameras and when it is recaptured to be fitted with a radio collar.

The study

Since 2002, the National Park Service has studied mountain lions in and around the Santa Monica Mountains to learn how they survive in a fragmented, urban landscape. The California Department of Fish and Wildlife oversees the management and conservation of mountain lions in the state.

Littermates: P-113 · P-115 · all puma profiles

Sources

Based on "Puma Profiles: P-114," National Park Service, Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area; a work of the United States government in the public domain.