Species Presentation

1
Species Presentation

• Puma concolor
• Matt Bickel
• Mike Bryant
• John Costa

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Introduction

• Biology
• Ecology
• Management

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Biology

• Nomenclature
• Distribution
• Morphology

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Nomenclature

• Common Names
• Mountain lion, leon, cougar, panther, puma,
  catamount, painter, and several native names
• Scientific Name
• Puma concolor
• Subspecies
• There are 30 recognized (debated)

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Subspecies
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Distribution
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Morphology

• Weight
• Males 80-91kg (175-200 lbs)
• Females 34-80kg (75-175 lbs)
• Length
• Males 2.4 m (8 ft)
• Females 2.0 m (6.5 ft)

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Morphology

• Digitigrade
• Five in forepaw and four in hindpaw
• Terminal retractable claw
• 1st digit reduced in size and set higher
• Short and stocky limbs (comparatively)
• Hind limbs longer than forelimbs

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Track next to 82 Dodge pickup key
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Pelage

• Uniformly colored
• Tawny
• Ventral side is lighter in color buff
• Tail tipped in black

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Pelage

• Kittens
• Dark spots on body
• Black rings on tail
• Fades with age (lyr)

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Skull and Dentation

• Diphyodont w/ vertical tooth replacement
• Adult dental formula is 3/3 1/1 3/2 1/1 30

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A P

• Vision
• Stereoscopic w/ associated depth perception
• Large area of overlap in field of vision
• Large pupils, large lenses, increased retinal
  curvature
• Hyoid apparatus
• Clavicle
• Mammae
• Acetyl group on hemoglobin

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Reproduction

• Estrous cycle
• Gestation
• Litter size
• Altricial young

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Ecology

• Habitat
• Diet
• Behavior

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Habitat

• Adaptable to many habitats including
• Woody swamps
• Forests
• Chaparral
• Deserts
• Brush lands

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Habitat

• Five criteria for puma habitat
• Native vegetation, woody cover, prey, low
  development density, and connection to large
  tracts of habitat
• Ambush predators that rely on dense cover for
  successful hunting

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Habitat

• When traveling long distances, puma prefer
• Ridge tops
• Canyon bottoms
• Dirt roads
• Hiking trails
• These area offer increased rate of travel,
  however they can increase human interaction.

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Diet

• Major and minor prey species vary depending on
  location and season
• 40 species are commonly preyed upon in Western
  Hemisphere (Generalist Predator)

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Diet

• Sources of data for puma diet analysis
• Puma kill sites
• Stomach and intestine content studies
• Poop
• Conclusion
• Puma are generalist predators
• Deer, elk, wild pigs, sheep are main prey
  species

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Diet

• Discriminate selection of prey
• Bull elk and buck deer in winter
• Age bias bigger factor than physical condition
• Probability of success 82

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Diet

• Evidence of cannibalism
• Diet studies also showed some scavenging

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Behavior

• Hunting
• Ambush from dense cover
• Jumps on preys back, bites
• neck or skull
• Drags prey away from kill site
• Will cache a kill
• Disemboweled large prey

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Behavior

• Mating
• Polygamous
• Puma will mate w/ same individual several times
• No set mating season
• Mating pair together for 2-5 days

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Behavior

• Social
• Solitary, w/ exception of mating season and
  females w/ kittens.
• Employ mutual avoidance strategy w/ other puma
• Puma will kill other predators over prey
  competition

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Management

• Management concerns
• Past Management
• Present Management

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Management concerns

• Habitat loss
• Biological significance
• Safety/Control
• Economics
• Ethical

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Loss of Habitat

• Increased urban development
• Vacation homes, ski areas etc
• Agricultural development
• Ranching
• Farming

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Biological Significance

• Biological diversity
• Key predator species
• Must maintain genetic variety w/ in species

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Human Safety/Control

• Human deaths and attacks
• Misrepresentation of Puma
• Pink panther, disneyesque,
• big kitty
• Human/Puma interactions
• Shared habitat

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Economics

• Sport hunting
• Depredation
• Wild ungulates
• Domestic livestock
• Poaching
• Trade in wildlife parts
• Property damage
• Cars, pets etc

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Ethical Issues

• Anti-hunting
• Aesthetic value
• They were here first
• Endangered
• Misinformed

• Cultural values
• Native American
• Dominionistic attitude

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Past Management.Then

• The only good predator is a dead predator.
• Bounties
• Extirpation from most of original NA range
• Not valued, seen only as a liability to
  agriculture and big game

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Present Management Strategies

• Legal issues
• Hunting
• Protection

• Programs and Practices
• Monitoring
• Education

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Legal Issues

• California Prop. 117 (Habitat Conservation Fund),
  1990
• Gives 30 million per year
• Proposed designation will provide an additional
  750,000 per year for research and management (no
  sport hunting)
• Lawsuit filed against Wildlife services
• States that the agency is violating the
  Wilderness Act, National Environmental Policy Act
  by killing puma through its Animal Damage Control
  Program.
• No present mgt plan in WY, despite a 1996 draft.

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Sport Hunting

• Sport hunting in 13 states and provinces
• Only SD, CA, and FL have no hunting seasons
• Hunting packages big money
• Bryce Canyon, UT. 3000 per person
• Bitterfoot Mountain Outfitters, ID
• 2500 License and lion tag 3000
• Problems with sport hunting
• Only females w/ cubs _at_ side are protected
• Use of dogs is very controversial

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Protection

• Habitat
• Protected areas allow subpopulations to evolve
  w/o human related mortality, increasing genetic
  diversity
• Florida, recent habitat acquisitions
• Everglades Natl Park 107,600 acres
• Florida Panther Natl Wildlife Refuge 23,300
  acres
• Big Cypress Natl Preserve 141,000 acres
• The USFWS has designated critical habitat for
  only 9 of all Federally listed species.

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Protection

• Population protection and Classification
• Threatened in SD
• Specially Protected Mammal
• Very rare designation, even for endangered
  species
• About 5100 animals
• Florida panther is a Federally Endangered
  Subspecies
• Only about 60-70 animals

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Programs and Practices

• Road Safety Implements
• Since 1972, 44 Florida panthers wave been killed
  by vehicles.
• Wildlife Crossings and fencing installed on more
  than 40 miles of roadways.
• No panthers have been killed where these devices
  were installed.
• Riparian Corridors in S. California crucial in
  safe movement.
• Breeding Programs
• 8 female Texas cougars released in Fl. To
  introduce new genetic material.
• 3 still alive, 1 recently had two kittens.
• Florida Panther Interagency Committee
• Removed 6 female cubs from the wild to start a
  captive breeding program for reintroduction.

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Programs and Practices

• Translocations
• Good alternative to destroying nuisance animals.
• Problems associated with translocations
• Little is known about success rates.
• Where do you send them?
• Monitoring
• Essential for determining management success.
• Problems with present monitoring strategies
• Based on Harvest Statistics, therefore can be
  biased due to male-preferred hunting practices.
• The accuracy of aging techniques is uncertain.

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Education

• Management plans need to incorporate both public
  opinions and wildlife managers.
• People need a background knowledge to achieve
  unbiased plans.
• Educating land and livestock owners important in
  reducing depredation and nuisance puma
  destruction.
• Programs like Idaho State University Interactive
  Research Program allow general public to get
  hands-on experience.
• Encounter information distributed at Natl Parks.

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Conclusion

• Puma concolor was the most widely ranging
  terrestrial mammal in the western hemisphere,
  before European settlement
• The keys to future management of this species,
  its subspecies and populations include
• Public education
• Habitat preservation
• Tolerance