"In a new study by the Puma advocacy group, PANTHERA, evidence reveals that a solitary carnivore, the puma (Puma concolor), exhibited adaptive social strategies similar to more social animals"...........'Similar to evidence coming from a previous TETON COUGAR STUDY, this new research from northwestern Wyoming shows that Pumas exhibit prolonged tolerance at food sources"............. "Contrary to the going in hypotheses, kinship did not explain tolerance, and spatial overlap was an explanatory variable of secondary importance, functioning within the larger constraints imposed by the social organization around territorial males" ...........Excess food reduces the costs of reciprocity and creates opportunities for sociality in normally solitary species".......... "Carnivores like Pumas that kill large prey which are difficult to consume alone, temporarily experience excess resources"......."As a result, there may be fitness benefits to supporting conspecifics(other Pumas) over competitive scavengers(Coyotes, Ravens, Wolverines, etc) as has been shown in social carnivores" .................Our friend, Puma biologist John Laundres comments as follows----"I've always contended that the only difference between solitary and social animals is the amount of personal space they need!"............ "A male puma with his 3-4 females within his territory is similar to male lions with their pride of females"................. My guess is that that personal distance is related to the abundance of food resources (or in the case of wolves, the accessibility to those resources)"............. "Just proves the point...no cat is an island!-----"LANDSCAPE OF FEAR" biologist John Laundre

CLICK ON LINK TO VIEW VIDEO OF TWO FEMALE PUMAS FINDING
COMMON GROUND OVER A KILL,,,,,,,,,,,,,AND ENJOYING A MEAL TOGETHER

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/11/science/pumas-solitary-social.html?hpw&rref=science&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&module=well-region&region=bottom-well&WT.nav=bottom-well

Solitary Pumas Turn Out to Be Mountain Lions Who Lunch

Adaptive social strategies in a solitary carnivore

CLICK ON LINK TO READ FULL ARTICLE

http://advances.sciencemag.org/content/3/10/e1701218.full

1. L. Mark Elbroch1,*, 
2. Michael Levy2, 

1. Mark Lubell2, 

1. Howard Quigley1 and 
2. Anthony

1.  Caragiulo3

1. 1Panthera, 8 West 40th Street, 18th
2.  Floor, New York,
3.  NY 10018, USA.
4. 2Department of Environmental
5.  Science and Policy, 
6. University of California, Davis,
7.  One Shields Avenue,
8.  Davis, CA 95616, USA.
9. 3Sackler Institute for Comparative
10.  Genomics, American
11.  Museum of Natural History, 
12. Central Park West at 79th
13.  Street, New York, NY 10024, USA.

1. ↵*Corresponding author. 
2. 
   
3. Email: melbroch@panthera.org
4. 
   
5. 
   

Abstract

Cost-benefit trade-offs for individuals participating in social
 behaviors are the basis for current theories on the
evolution of social behaviors and societies. However,
 research on social strategies has largely ignored solitary
 animals, in which we assume that rare interactions are
 explained by courtship or territoriality or, in special
 circumstances, resource distributions or kinship.

 We used directed network analysis of conspecific
tolerance at food sources to provide evidence that a
solitary carnivore, the puma (Puma concolor), exhibited
adaptive social strategies similar to more social animals

. Every puma in our analysis participated in the network,
which featured densely connected communities
 delineated by territorial males. Territorial males also
structured social interactions among pumas. Contrary to
expectations, conspecific tolerance was best characterized
 by direct reciprocity, establishing a fitness benefit to
individuals that participated in social behaviors. 

However, reciprocity operated on a longer time scale
than in gregarious species. Tolerance was also explained
 by hierarchical reciprocity, which we defined as network
 triangles in which one puma (generally male) received
 tolerance from two others (generally females) that also
tolerated each other. 

Hierarchical reciprocity suggested that males might be
cheating females; nevertheless, we suspect that males
 and females used different fitness currencies. For
example, females may have benefited from tolerating
males through the maintenance of social niches that
 support breeding opportunities. Our work contributes
evidence of adaptive social strategies in a solitary
 carnivore and support for the applicability of theories
of social behavior across taxa, including solitary
species in which they are rarely tested.