Crossing highways

This morning, we learned that 39M, the downtown puma from Santa Cruz, was hit and killed on Highway 17 around Vine Hill Road. When we caught the young male back in May, we recognized that his survival in the coming months would be difficult. After getting his new...

4 days, 3 pumas!

The puma project has been on a puma catching spree this last week: we caught 3 different animals in 4 days! Starting Monday last week, we set out 6 road kill deer in two large properties to see what pumas we might attract. Our streak began Wednesday with the capture...

Our family grows by one: welcome 42M!

On Wednesday night, we captured our newest puma in the Cemex Redwoods using a cage trap. We have had pretty great success with cage traps recently – catching a puma on 3 out of 4 attempts. We weren’t sure if 42M was going to return to the cage because in...

Welcome 41M, Goodbye 27M

Weighing in at 84 pounds, and around 14 months old, last week we welcomed 41M to the study.  In this video, you can see 41M walk into the trap while his sibling looks on.  The door closes behind him, distracting him for a moment, but then he returns to chowing down on...

A very intimate glimpse into a puma family

We were recently alerted to this new video from user CougarMagic on Youtube. The video depicts a mom walking with her two kittens who just stops to let them nurse in front of a camera trap. This is an amazing and very rare glimpse into the family life of pumas....