But Wait, There's More

Back in October, we were so excited to capture two cougar kittens on camera, in the Verdugos. Suddenly, the population there went from one, to four (mom must be around somewhere, although we never saw her.) Surprise, and some dismay that a month later two tiny kittens were found underneath someone's car in Burbank, and whisked away to Zoo to You, an educational facility in Paso Robles. Their lives were saved, and they'll have a pretty luxurious life there, but it meant that there really was only room for one lion in the Verdugos. That wild areas have gotten so small that other animals couldn't make it more than a few short weeks. And I would have loved to see them on camera again.

But as much as camera trapping has opened a huge window into observing wildlife, we still only see one tiny spot of real estate, for a brief few seconds. The real detective work is left to biologists, and my hat's off to them for figuring out mysteries like this.

Are these our October kittens, growing fast? Did a litter of four somehow get split up? Or has a completely new family moved in recently, in search of better hunting?

Not to be overshadowed, this less mysterious male has been making rounds in the San Gabriels following mule deer. Whole Foods indeed...