C)    Habitat loss/degradation

Mountain Lion

Felis concolor, Puma concolor

The following Nature IQ information is directly from the Mountain Lion Foundation website:

Loss, fragmentation and degradation of habitat are the number one killer of wildlife. Animals dying of starvation for lack of habitat is not an appropriate legacy for a state as richly blessed as California .

The mountain lion populations are categorized into different subspecies t hroug hout the United States . So when we speak of the mountain lion "population," we are referring to several different populations. In California , the population of mountain lions that resides in the Santa Ana Mountains is in deep trouble, according to lion expert Dr. Paul Beier. Rampant development has blocked many wildlife corridors, so that the Santa Ana mountain lions are becoming isolated from other populations. These corridors are necessary to the immigration of new lions, without which the Santa Ana mountain lions face the danger of extinction.

The " Yuma Puma" is a subspecies that lives in the California desert, Arizona and Mexico . The damming of the Colorado river and adjacent agricultural

  Photo: Joy Fera                                                                                        development has led to a significant decline in the habitat of the desert mule deer, the Yuma Puma’s prey. It is considered endangered by the Arizona    

                                                                                      Game and fish Department, and the California Department of Fish & Game as a "species of special concern."   

It is important to remember that mountain lions must compete for space with a human population that is rapidly increasing. Currently, there are more than 30 million people living in California . Many of these people now live or recreate in or near mountain lion habitat. Every time a new housing development is built in the foothills, mountain lions and other wildlife lose critical habitat. Many cougar populations that once lived in the United States are now extinct because of habitat loss.

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“The American lion is very territorial and their home areas can range from 25 square miles in Idaho and California to 1000 square miles in western Texas . They mark the boundaries of their home areas with scrapes of earth, leaves, and urine. The cats tend to be active at dawn, dusk, and at night, when they roam their home area search of prey.

Mountain lions are remarkable in their adaptability to a wide range of habitats. Cougars seem equally at home in Alberta ’s alpine forests, Arizona ’s Sonoran Desert , or Mexico ’s tropical jungles. They are found from sea level to 14,765 feet, in the dense forests of the Pacific Northwest, the desert Southwest, and in Florida ’s Everglades .

Mountain lions have extraordinary vision and are remarkably fast. From a standing position, mountain lions can jump a vertical distance of up to 15 feet and a horizontal distance of 40 feet. Mountain lions choose deer as prey more than any other animal, but they also feed on wild hogs, raccoons, rabbits and hares, porcupine, and birds.”

http://www.mountainlion.org/habitat.asp                                                          [back]