Last week, this beast of a mountain lion stopped by the latrine area (a spot that multiple cats use for communication, like a big little box). You can see him first respond to the site with the Flehmen response, which helps him smell better, pheromones in particular. He then leaves a urine “scrape”, letting other mountain lions and animals know h was there.
Month: November 2025
Little bear antics
Bears are still out and fattening up in the Sky Island mountain ranges in Arizona. This sow and her cub visited the bear wallow for a swim several times over the last couple of weeks. It won’t be long before they find their cave and curl up for the winter.
Desert bighorn sheep over the city
This trail cam video capture was a really nice surprise! These bighorn sheep are part of the translocation of bighorn to the Catalina mountains by Tucson that started in 2013. I suppose it’s possible that some of these individuals are offspring of the original animals that were re-introduced at that time.
A new mountain lion
Recently, two of my trail cams caught this female mountain lion passing through a desert canyon. She’s recognizably different than the other lions that frequent the canyon. Specifically, the cuts in each of her ears and more broadly, her body condition, hip structure, and the tip of her tail all indicate a new lion. Also, you can see she has two noticeable open wounds, one on each side of her body. I wonder what her story is? Hopefully, the trail cams will catch her again.
My Earth 