Puma Profiles: P-92, an Orphaned Mountain Lion Kitten From the Simi Hills

P-92 is a male mountain lion from the National Park Service's study in the Santa Monica Mountains area, first handled on July 7, 2020.

Found in a den

On July 7, 2020, P-92 and his sister P-91, kittens of P-67, were found in a den in the Simi Hills — only the second litter researchers had found there. The same day, P-67 was found dead.

P-67's kittens. NPS.

The team tried to have another female, P-65, foster them, but it did not work. The orphans are being raised at the Southwest Wildlife Conservation Center in Scottsdale, Arizona. The sanctuary reports that they have distinct personalities — P-91 bolder, P-92 laid-back — and that they are inseparable and a comfort to each other. Its director, Linda Searles, regretted that they could not live in the wild but was glad they would keep the sanctuary's old male company, and said they would serve as ambassadors for the Santa Monica Mountains lions and for their species.

Their father is thought to be P-78, who travelled with P-67 on several days before moving north into the Santa Susana Mountains and beyond.

Their mother's death

P-67 was herself tagged as a kitten in the Simi Hills in 2018; her mother is P-62, and her siblings were P-66, P-68 and P-69. Her necropsy found an empty stomach, a thin body and signs of necrotizing enteritis, an intestinal disease. She had been exposed to five different anticoagulant compounds and to bromethalin — not an anticoagulant, but a highly potent rodenticide that kills a rodent in a single feeding. The presumed cause of death was septicemia, possibly following the enteritis.

A record year for kittens

Between May and August 2020, five mothers gave birth to 13 kittens — more in so short a time than ever before in the long-term study, in which researchers have marked 21 litters at the den. The previous record was four dens in a year, across 10 months of 2015. Three more litters were found older, at least 6 months, after they had left the den.

Sources

• National Park Service, Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area, "Puma Profiles: P-92." https://www.nps.gov/articles/000/puma-profiles-p-92.htm
• Words on this page from people and organisations outside the federal government are paraphrased; rewritten in hubnx's own words.