If Los Angeles residents(Angelenos) can live with and enjoy Pumas in their midst, so can folks in every city large and small across the USA...............If we can muster up the will and $$ to provide the habitat(and create the culverts across highways), "Wild America" will again be part of all of our lives, making us more in tune with the world around us---making us more "human" in the process..............., Note that L.A. lions try really hard to stay out of the paths of the millions of humans occupying their historical territory.................. "Currently the dozen or so L.A. Pumas are healthy(and reproducing as the newest kitten, named P-54 attests to) with stable population growth and healthy rates of survival and reproduction"......................... "However, they are isolated from natural areas and other populations of "lions" by freeways and development which could ultimately result in inbreeding causing the population to go extinct"(see 63 beautiful pictures of the L.A. Puma population by clicking on the link coded in yellow in the article below)

https://www.google.com/url?rct=j&sa=t&url=http://www.dailynews.com/environment-and-nature/20170404/meet-p-54-las-newest-mountain-lion-kitten&ct=ga&cd=CAEYACoTMzgzNDE0NTE5NzI0ODA4Njk1NTIaNTI1NjVmODUzZjRjOTZmOTpjb206ZW46VVM&usg=AFQjCNERmhMVintDVaTRcS8ih2cdJrXSEA

Meet P-54 — LA’s newest mountain lion kitten

Ryan Foseca, Los Angeles Daily News

POSTED: 04/04/17

In late February 2017, National Park Service researchers
 marked a four-week-old mountain lion kitten as P-54. 
The mother is P-23. Photo courtesy National Park Service

Mountain lion P-23 recently gave

 birth to a kitten, named P-54 by 

wildlife researchers. (Photo

 courtesy National Park Service) 

In his season of new life, one newborn has caught the attention
of state and federal officials — 
a four-week-old mountain lion kitten.

Researchers from the National Park Service, together with 
biologists from the California
 Department 
of Fish and Wildlife said the female kitten, given the new
 name P-54, is the daughter of
 mountain lion P-23.

The suspected father is P-30, which is a concern to wildlife 
officials, as he is P-23’s half-brother,
 which would make the young kitten a product of inbreeding.

Thanks to their GPS collars, researchers noted both pumas
 traveling together for three
 days. Approximately 90 days later, GPS data indicated
 that P-23 had given birth.

“The good news is that local mountain lions continue to
 reproduce successfully,” said 
Jeff Sikich, biologist for Santa Monica Mountains
 National Recreation Area. 
“Unfortunately, these animals are stuck on an island
 of habitat, with very little
 movement in and out of the Santa Monica Mountains,
 which has led to multiple cases 
of inbreeding.”

OUTSTANDING PHOTOS OF L.A. PUMAS--
CLICK ON LINK directly  BELOW

• PHOTOS: Los Angeles’ mountain lions
 in danger of extinction

A team of wildlife researchers, accompanied by a veterinarian, went into the mountains and located P-54 while the mother was away from the den, according to Ranger Kate Kuykendall from the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area.

The kitten, described as healthy by Kuykendall, was sedated while researchers took blood and tissue samples, fitted her with an ear tag and planted a tracking device in her abdomen. The tracking device functions differently from the GPS collars fitted on adult pumas and requires triangulating a signal in the field to locate her.

While it’s possible P-54 wasn’t the only kitten born to P-23, researchers were not able to find any other offspring, despite a lengthy search in the area, Kuykendall said.

“It’s possible that they could have missed one ... or two,” she said, adding that future attempts to surveil the mother and kitten could lead to some surprises.


Historical picture of a Los Angeles Puma feeding on Black Tail deer kill

The kitten’s DNA has been sent to UCLA, where genetic testing will be conducted to confirm that P-30 is the father, Kuykendall said. If he is, it would be the first documentation of him fathering kittens.

This is P-23’s third time birthing kittens, but in two previous cases she lost her young to fellow predators.

One kitten did survived and was documented on video chirping for her mother. Researchers outfitted that kitten, now known as P-53, with a GPS collar in July 2016.

While inbreeding is a concern, Kuykendall said researchers have not documented any physical defects in the area mountain lion population.

• RELATED STORY: Mountain lion kitten P-51 killed on 118 Freeway, just weeks after mother and sibling die

The discovery comes a few months after a female mountain lion and two of her three cubs were killed weeks apart from each other while attempting to cross the 118 Freeway near Chatsworth.

“Southern California’s extensive freeway network has been shown to be a major barrier for wildlife and has particularly hemmed in the mountain lion population in the Santa Monica Mountains,” Kuykendall said.


Historical picture of  a Los Angeles mother Puma and kitten feeding on deer kill

The area where the three mountain lions were killed is part of a “critical wildlife connection” to the Los Padres National Forest, which Kuykendall previously called “the promised land for mountain lions” due to the vast, undeveloped terrain.

Some 336 Grizzlies have been killed yearly in British Columbia, Canada since 1975..........."The figures, compiled from the B.C. Compulsory Inspection Database, show a relatively consistent number of grizzly bears killed each year over the past four decades, with the exception of a dip in 2001, when there was a moratorium on the grizzly-bear hunt"...................."The figures also indicate that, on average, 34 per cent of grizzly bears killed each year are female – a percentage that worries some conservationists and is one element in a public debate over whether the hunt should be banned"............"According to the U.S. Geological Survey's Interagency Grizzly Bear Study Team(IGBST), no more than 7.6% of the annual Griz population can be killed without causing a population decline".................. "Females are the ultimate arbiters of population health".................... "It should be noted too that a mom’s death has deadly consequences for her orphaned cubs"..........."The Canadian Government projects the grizzly population in B.C. at 15,000 – about one-quarter of the population in North America"..................... "Of 56 bear “population units” in B.C. – geographic areas based on habitat and natural boundaries – nine are classified as threatened"

https://www.google.com/url?rct=j&sa=t&url=http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/british-columbia/more-than-300-bc-grizzly-bears-killed-by-hunters-yearly-david-suzuki-data/article34550355/&ct=ga&cd=CAEYACoUMTI3ODY0MzM2OTMxOTYwNTk1MjUyGjU2ZDFlN2YxOWU4Zjk5OTE6Y29tOmVuOlVT&usg=AFQjCNF6NesjXSgWdpMISGzqmSBaEiqIYg

Data reveal more than 300 B.C. grizzlies killed by hunters yearly

WENDY STUECK

VANCOUVER — The Globe and Mail

Published Friday, Mar. 31, 2017 

Nearly 14,000 grizzly bears have been killed in B.C. since the government started tracking mortality records for the species in 1975, the vast majority by hunters, according to provincial data compiled by the David Suzuki Foundation.

Of those bears – an estimated 329 each year – 87 per cent have been killed by licensed hunters, with other kills attributed to causes including the shooting of problem bears by conservation officers, illegal poaching and collisions with cars and trains.

A total of 13,804 grizzly bears have been killed by humans from 1975 to 2016, the group says.

The Suzuki foundation provided the data to The Globe and Mail ahead of the opening on Saturday of the province’s controversial trophy grizzly-bear hunt. The governing Liberal party has defended the hunt and resisted calls to shut it down. With the Opposition NDP opposed to the hunt, the issue will likely arise during the spring election campaign.

The figures, compiled from the B.C. Compulsory Inspection Database, show a relatively consistent number of grizzly bears killed each year over the past four decades, with the exception of a dip in 2001, when there was a moratorium on the grizzly-bear hunt.

(The database consists of information submitted by hunters through required inspections for certain species, including grizzly bears.)

The figures also indicate that, on average, 34 per cent of grizzly bears killed each year are female – a percentage that worries some conservationists and is one element in a public debate over whether the hunt should be banned.

“Despite being a large, dominant animal, grizzlies are among the most threatened large species on the continent,” Faisal Moola, director-general of the Suzuki foundation, said on Friday.

Because female grizzly bears reproduce later in life and have a small number of cubs that survive, the species is vulnerable to decline if too many female bears are taken out of the population, he said.

“The ability of a population to rebound, or bounce back, from a period of hunting, is wholly dependent on the success of those female bears to continue to reproduce and replenish the population,” Dr. Moola said.

The province estimates the grizzly population in B.C. at 15,000 – about one-quarter of the population in North America. Of 56 bear “population units” in B.C. – geographic areas based on habitat and natural boundaries – nine are classified as threatened.

But conservation groups say that figure overestimates the health of the grizzly population.

The Liberal government maintains that the grizzly-bear hunt is sustainable, based on sound science, and tightly regulated.

If hunters take more than 30 per cent of female bears, “hunting opportunities are reduced or that unit is closed to hunting,” the Ministry of Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations said on Friday in a statement.

There is significant opposition to the hunt, including from First Nations that see greater economic opportunity in bear-viewing.

There is also debate over whether sanctioned hunts could put further pressure on population units deemed to be threatened.

The province refused to provide spatial data on individual grizzly kills unless the Suzuki foundation agreed to sign a confidentiality agreement, which it declined to do, Dr. Moola said.

Without that information, the group was unable to determine whether grizzly bears are being killed in parks or protected areas or in local populations where over-hunting has occurred in the past, he said in an e-mail.

Kill locations of grizzly bears are “considered sensitive information and not released publicly,” the ministry said. “The province fully supports ensuring the long-term sustainability of Grizzly bear populations, and the protection of seasonally-critical habitats is a significant part of conservation efforts,” the ministry added.

Grizzly-bear hunting is not allowed in areas where conservation is a concern. Last September, the B.C. Auditor-General’s office included grizzly-bear management in its list of planned projects to determine “whether government is meeting its objective of ensuring healthy grizzly bear populations throughout B.C.”

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=9&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwiW3L67y5DTAhVrxFQKHck6AgcQFgg2MAg&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.cbc.ca%2Fnews%2Fcanada%2Fbritish-columbia%2Fgrizzly-bears-overhunted-in-b-c-say-researchers-1.2417306&usg=AFQjCNGbcw_oWP0rVuOKBo69eS_JVplhHA&sig2=LhuN9si-Xsvid3rSIsN5zA

Grizzly bears overhunted in B.C., say researchers

Kill rates are too high and population estimates too vague, according to SFU and Uvic scientists

CBC News Posted: Nov 06, 2013

A new study is questioning the B.C. government's claim the province's trophy grizzly bear hunt is sustainable, saying the kill rates are too high and the population estimates are too inaccurate.

The research by SFU and University of Victoria scientists, published today in Public Library of Science, a peer-reviewed journal, says about 300 grizzly bears are killed by trophy hunters every year in B.C.

The B.C. government claims that's a sustainable harvest, since it estimates there are about 15,000 grizzlies in B.C.

But researchers say their analysis of 10 years of the government's data from 2001 to 2011 raises serious questions about that conclusion.

SFU biologist Kyle Artelle says in half the population groups around the province where hunting is permitted, more grizzlies have been killed than even government targets allow.

In at least one regional population, hunters killed 24 more bears than the local quota allowed.

"It does cast some doubt that management is safeguarding the future of these populations," said Artelle.

Population estimates questioned

The study also raises larger concerns about the accuracy of the government's population estimates.

Artelle says that even wildlife managers don't know how many bears are out there because on-the-ground surveys have only been done for about 15 percent of the province, meaning most population estimates come from computer models or expert opinion.

And, he says, because of the wide range of potential errors in those estimates, the hunting quotes may be too lax.

"In a way it's a bit like a game of Russian roulette. The data just don't let us have a precise picture on how big that threat is. But it is a considerable risk based on that uncertainty."

But Andrew Wilson, director of Fish and Wildlife at the Ministry of Forests, Lands and Natural Resources, is confident in how grizzly bears are managed and said the government's own analysis supports the current hunt.

"The information that I have and the information that we use to manage, we feel is the best available science and it's based on the information we have at hand," said Wilson.

"I'm confident in our abilities to manage grizzly bears and to manage the hunt based on those numbers."

The researchers say the government should learn from the mistakes made by fisheries managers that allowed overfishing to lead to the collapse of many fish stocks.

“Grizzly bears’ low rate of reproduction makes them highly vulnerable and slow to recover from population declines," said Artelle.

The B.C. government could reduce the risk to the province's grizzly bear population by cutting its hunting quotas by at least half, he says. The paper notes a more conservative approach would require reducing hunting by 80 percent, or eliminating it all together.

According to the researchers, trophy hunting of grizzlies is allowed in about 40 of the 57 population units in B.C., including B.C.’s Great Bear Rainforest, where the alliance of Coastal First Nations has banned the activity. The provincial government doesn’t recognize the First Nations' ban.

The grizzly bear hunt is managed by the Ministry of Forests, Lands and Natural Resources. A spokesperson said the ministry will review the report.

Great Lakes Mammoths may have starved after population explosion........Wouldn't the plant eaters like Mastadons have declined prior to the carnivores(saber-toothed cats, dire wolves, short-faced bears, etc) rather than in the reverse?........Interesting theory put forth in the article below as to the causes of the extinction event of 10,000 years ago causing the American Mega-Fauna to evaporate from the planet

https://www.google.com/url?rct=j&sa=t&url=http://greatlakesecho.org/2017/04/03/great-lakes-mammoths-may-have-starved-after-population-explosion/&ct=ga&cd=CAEYACoUMTc2MzY5MTc0OTUzNDg3NTUxNzcyGmExMmZjYzFjODZjYTNhZmQ6Y29tOmVuOlVT&usg=AFQjCNE2MfDImRVg2V3AbZKAHx1d5b4mYQ

By Max Johnston | April 3, 2017

Mammoth (right) and mastodon (left). Image: Wikimedia Commons

By Max Johnston

In the 1920s, the last of the gray wolves were hunted down in Yellowstone National Park, creating a boom in elk populations that wreaked havoc on the landscape.

The same thing may have happened to mammoths in the Great Lakes region more than 12,000 years ago, according to a recent study.

The absence of wolves in Yellowstone created a “boom and bust” cycle of elk. No longer hunted by wolves, their populations would increase “through the roof,” said Chris Widga, a paleontologist at East Tennessee University.

But that wasn’t necessarily good for the herd.

“The population would increase to the point when they would run out of food, and then they would crash,” Widga said.

Mammoths and their distant cousin mastodons may have experienced a similar boom and bust cycle, said Widga, the lead author of a new study published in the academic journal Boreas. Widga and his team propose a theory contradicting many popular scenarios for the extinction of creatures that grew as tall as 15 feet and weighed up to six tons.

The paleontologists examined mammoth and mastodon remains from 47 sites across the Midwest. While they found evidence of humans hunting mammoths and climatic changes, neither seemed to affect populations as much as previously believed.

However, several carnivorous animal populations were affected. Saber-toothed cats, dire wolves and other mammoth predators appeared to die off from hunting and from climatic changes, according to the study.

“There were these really big predators and they died out from the Midwest,” Widga said. “The mammoths and mastodons that were around when [the predators] went extinct, it didn’t look like they were being hunted or scavenged.”

The absence of predators could have created an overabundance of mammoths that ate up all the vegetation and ran out of food, causing populations to plummet, according to the study.

Before the last ice age, the Great Lakes area was a vibrant habitat for the elephant-like creatures, said Daniel Fischer, a professor of paleontology at the University of Michigan.

“They were here in some numbers, with thousands of specimens in the Great Lakes region, and those are just a fraction of those that are out there,” Fischer said. “It was a productive environment with a lot for large herbivores to eat.”

Paleontologists agree that during the Pleistocene epoch, also known as the ice age, mammoths wandered throughout the Great Lakes region, before dying off.

Mammoths and mastodons wandered the Great Lakes region during the Pleistocene epoch. Image: Wikimedia Commons

That’s about where the agreements end. Paleontologists have long debated over exactly how mammoths and mastodons in the region went extinct. For decades, three theories on mammoth extinction were common among paleontologists: climate change, human hunting and an “extraterrestrial event” involving a comet or asteroid, Fischer said.

Popular theories on extinction came about in the 1950s and paleontologists have since formed groups based on belief in those theories, said Jeffrey Saunders, a paleontologist for over 40 years and a co-author of the study.

“In those early years people said humans were probably linked to their downfall, others said we had come out of the ice age and there were climatic changes,” said Saunders, formerly of the Illinois State Museum. “Then people fell into camps.”

Many theories were debated and dismissed with little consensus, Fischer said.

“Some ideas have proponents, have their moments in the sun, but in the end are not really compatible with a lot of observations,” Fischer said. “It’s almost luck of the draw, there are people that would go with any of those.”

But Widga and his team don’t. He said their research doesn’t correspond with any existing theories.

“Our data was not pointing to any particular scenario that already existed,” Widga said. “That’s part of this study. This is a lot more complicated than we thought.”

Some paleontologists like Fischer remain reluctant to say that people did not have a role in the demise of the creatures.

“The research itself isn’t divisive, people come at it different ways with different answers,” Fischer said. “I believe there is more evidence of human interaction and impact on populations than this paper acknowledged.”

While male Pumas have been documented north of the Caloosahatchee River in Florida(just north of Naples), female "cats" have stayed closer to their birth grounds in southern Florida............However, Back in November 2016, Florida conservation officials announced that they'd seen a female panther finally cross the Caloosahatchee River for the first time since 1973.............And this female did in fact find a mate and is patrolling north of the river with two fine kittens this year.............Fingers crossed that we humans and our autos and "trigger fingers" allow the historically "penned in Pumas to expand their territory into the middle of Florida, where suitable habitat is available for other Puma "households" to take shape.

http://cougarnet.us10.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=378bd320ac77611048b9bcd66&id=9c42a47670&e=f7887aa60e

Two Florida panther kittens found north of the Caloosahatchee River

Posted By Rachel LeBar on Mon, Mar 27, 2017

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission announced on Monday that it found two Florida panther kittens north of the Caloosahatchee River, which is good news for Florida's big cats.

Photos of one of the kitttens born north of the Caloosahatchee River

So far, Florida panthers have only been breeding south of the Caloosahatchee River, which is located southwest of Florida's Gulf Coast near Fort Myers. FWC says that this is a "big leap" for the Florida panther population, which has seen a slight incline over the past year. 

A recent head count of Florida's panther population showed an increase from a mere 100-180 range to a range of 120-230 (not including kittens). 

"Until now, we had only evidence of panthers breeding south of the Caloosahatchee," said Kipp Frohlich, deputy director for the FWC's Division of Habitat and Species Conservation. "These pictures of a female with kittens indicate that there are now panthers breeding north of the river."
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https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=6&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwiO76eGwovTAhUowlQKHQ7YA2QQFgg6MAU&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.sciencealert.com%2Fthis-is-the-first-time-since-1973-that-florida-panther-kittens-have-been-spotted-in-this-far-north&usg=AFQjCNEQFxTB4zQ51W5JSedhTOsqgQcC4A&sig2=S8oBczbM4Sv76G9p0Nh1Aw

Panther Kittens Have Been Seen Outside Their Florida Territory for the First Time Since 1973

They're actually expanding their range.

BEC CREW

28 MAR 2017

For the first time since 1973, endangered panther kittens have been spotted north of Florida's Caloosahatchee River - evidence that despite all odds, these big cats are actually expanding their range.

Pumas moving North to stay?????

Caloosahatchee River (yellow shading surrounding

the black line on map; north of the I 75 highway)

I75 Highway's southern course across Florida(horizontal red line)
is the first impediment to Pumas looking to roam north...Thankfully,
many wildlife over and underpasses now traverse the highway to
help pumas, bears and other creatures to "spread their wings"

Until now, only male panthers have been spotted north of the river, and for decades it was assumed that the females refused or were unable to cross it. But new images of healthy kittens have revealed that the Florida panther population could still be maintaining its unlikely increase.

"Until now, we had only evidence of panthers breeding south of the Caloosahatchee," Kipp Frohlich from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission's (FWC) Division of Habitat and Species Conservation said in a statement.

"These pictures of a female with kittens indicate that there are now panthers breeding north of the river."

File footage of what newborn Puma kittens look like;

spotted and full of brim and vigor

Florida panthers are a critically endangered subspecies of cougar that have made their homes in the forests and swamps in the southern half of the state.

Once common throughout the southeastern US, the subspecies hit its lowest point in the 1970s, when just 20 individuals were estimated to be left in the wild.

A breeding experiment in 1995 saw eight female cougars brought over from Texas to give the dwindling gene pool a kick, and the cats managed to increase their population to around 200 by 2014. 

Despite now being restricted to less than 5 percent of their historic range, and still faced with considerable threats, including poaching, busy roads, disease, and pollution, conservationists are extremely encouraged by this latest sighting.

"This is good news for panther recovery," Larry Williams from the US Fish and Wildlife Service said in a press statement. 

Pumas are one species whether found in Montana

or Florida............They once roamed Ocean to Ocean

"The service is committed to working with landowners to make panthers and private land ownership compatible."

Back in November 2016, Florida conservation officials announced that they'd seen a female panther finally cross the Caloosahatchee River for the first time in decades.

It's not clear how many have followed suit since then, but experts say this is the single best thing the big cats could have done to ensure the survival of the subspecies. 

In fact, these pioneering females appear to have done the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission a favour - for decades now, the government has had a long-term recovery plan in place for the subspecies, the primary goal of which was to:

"[M]aintain, restore, and expand the panther population and its habitat in south Florida, and expand the breeding portion of the population in south Florida to areas north of the Caloosahatchee River."

Looks like the panthers have done their job for them.

It's no time to get complacent about the fate of these important big cats - they're still critically endangered, after all - but it's refreshing to finally have some good news amid sobering predictions from scientists that a "major extinction event" could be on the cards for primates if things don't change.

Primary cause of Puma death in Florida--cars

Let's hope the Florida panther continues to defy all odds by finding new ways to survive out there in the sunshine state.





Florida has become a leader in constructing over and underpasses
across highways like I75 to allow Pumas to avoid cars

"For many years, the Caloosahatchee River has appeared to be a major obstacle to northward movement for female panthers," says Darrell Land, the FWC panther team leader.

"This verification of kittens with the female demonstrates panthers can expand their breeding territory across the river naturally."