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.
Tag: Mountain Lion
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.
Thirsty mountain lion
The Sonoran desert monsoon season has been a disappointment so far. Overall, not much rain. While some areas have had localized heavy downpours, other areas have been missing out and remained pretty dry. For a few years now, a couple friends and I have been hauling water to important dry waterholes that would otherwise be full from a decent monsoon season. The water this mountain lion is drinking is water hauled to the site. Thankfully, since this video was captured, there have been a few more rain showers that filled this waterhole and others in the area.
A mountain lion rests at a desert oasis
This mountain lion has been caught on my cameras on and off for nearly a year. The drainage she frequents also supports javelina and white-tailed deer, primary food sources for mountain lions in this region. When I was going to check the cameras, I came across the carcass of a deer fawn that was partially eaten and cached. I suspect that the mountain lion had very recently killed and eaten part of the fawn and was relaxing by the waterhole with a full belly.
Backyard Mountain Lion
It was an exciting thing to see a mountain lion had passed through the yard on July 10th. In the 11 years I’ve lived at this location, my cameras have caught only one other mountain lion in the backyard. I believe this is the same young male mountain lion that was trapped at Tucson Medical Center two days later. Game and Fish radio collared the lion and released him. I’m hoping one of my wild trail cams will catch him again at some point.
Puma Concolor
Mountain lion, cougar, or puma, this big cat is pretty stunning in her physique and lifestyle. All muscle and articulate movement when moving through her environment searching for prey and water. This particular cat showed that she also has habits of sorts, like us, in that she pretty much mirrored her visit to the waterhole two days apart. One visit during the day, and one during the night.
A Sonoran Desert Mountain Lion
When the temperatures start to rise as summer comes to the Sonoran Desert, any water source becomes a critical lifeline for all the desert critters. Birds, reptiles, insects, and mammals large and small regularly visit these waterholes. In this case, over the course of a month, a mountain lion stopped by only once on her rounds through her territory. The water at this spot has since dried up, so hopefully there are more water sources to be found deeper in the canyon.
Common sonoran desert mammals
Javelinas, raccoons, ringtails, coatis, gray foxes, coyotes, bobcats, black bears, and mountain lions are regular, year around residents of the Sonoran desert region. The animals in the following video were captured on my trail cams in my yard and in Sky Island mountain ranges in SE Arizona.
A thirsty mountain lion
As the days get hotter and water sources begin to dry up a small pool of water can attract big wildlife. In this case a magnificent mountain lion stopped by for a long drink.
Four mountain lions
One of my cameras was lucky enough to capture a mountain lion family at a desert waterhole. The “kittens” are close to leaving mom and venturing off by themselves.
My Earth 