Copied Cat

A bit of luck! I was excited to find these three videos of two different mountain lions living in the Santa Monica mountains recently. The population there has been studied since 2002. Such charismatic animals can't help but become famous in a town like Los Angeles, and their stories read like the script of an adventure flick.

The one sporting the collar is P12. He is an adult male best known for crossing the 101 freeway and bringing much needed genetic diversity to the inbred population on this habitat "island". A couple of months ago, three kittens were born nearby and P12 was determined to be the father. Photographer Gary Valle has an excellent synopsis of the history of this population written up here: http://www.photographyontherun.com/MountainLionSaga.aspx

The uncollared lion is most likely a female, and biologists are interested in finding more about her as well.

Anyone interested in the outdoors or wildlife has heard the term "open space". On the surface, almost everyone agrees that open space is valuable. Learning about the complexity of the situation is fascinating, and also drives home its importance. These animals may have enough room to live and eat right now, but they need connectivity with other spaces to survive in the future. There are many different ways they are valuable. Some people simply like the idea that large animals are out there - it improves their "wilderness" experience. Predators keep the deer, rabbits, and mice populations in control - so even if you never hike, you can find value in keeping your lawns and gardens from being eaten. Growing up on the east coast, where large predators no longer exist, I remember a constant level of anxiety while driving. Hitting a deer (always a strong possibility) would at best ruin your day and cause expensive damage to your car, and at worst result in injuries and even deaths.

Mountain lions control coyote populations as well. Though you'd be right to fear a mountain lion eating your pets, you'd have much more to worry about with lots of hungry coyotes running around.

And lastly, for some people, not everything needs to have a direct effect on humans to be valuable. We have every comfort imaginable. These animals are fighting for their lives every single day. Building an underpass beneath a freeway, or deciding we don't need another housing development or strip mall seems a small compromise to allow them to continue to exist.

Smaller in stature but not in "value", here are the other species calling this canyon home: