Mountain Lion Babies Spur Unprecedented Study

Thanks to three mountain lion cubs, Agoura Hills has become a new priority for the National Park Service.

The cats—two females and one male—were implanted with tracking devices after being discovered on May 26 off Mulholland Highway, just south of the Peter Strauss Ranch, and are now part of the first urban mountain lion study to follow kittens from such a young age.

"Mountain lions are really sort of the ultimate challenge for a conservationist in an area like this," said Seth Riley, wildlife ecologist with the National Park Service. "We are really interested in knowing how they are using the landscape here." 

Riley along with other NPR researchers will study the new litter to see if the male mountain lion kitten will attempt to disperse to more expansive habitat when he matures, and if the females will have litters of their own in the future.

The unconfirmed father of the kittens is genetically different from the other mountain lions in the Santa Monica Mountains, and is believed to be the lion that crossed the Ventura Freeway successfully in the spring of 2009. 

"It is really a good sign that adult lions are able to mate and successfully reproduce," said Riley. "This is a critical part to having a viable population in the area."

The National Park Service mountain lion study started eight years ago in July, 2002. Since then, researchers have tracked 19 mountain lions, Riley said.

The current study monitors the three new kittens using GPS collars, which Riley said "gives a ton of really accurate data as to what extent they are using natural versus developed areas." 

Besides reproduction, the main focus of the study, according to Riley, is to understand the impacts of urbanization and habitation lost on wildlife. Barriers, such as freeways, infringe on the mountain lions' expansive home ranges, he said.

"We assumed that the Santa Monica Mountains were not going to be big enough for a viable population of mountain lions," said Riley, "but it seems like it is from what we've seen."