Mountain Lions - Rocky Mountain National Park (U.S. National Park Service) NPS.gov Park Home Learn About the Park Nature Animals Mammals Mountain Lion Mountain Lion Last updated: May 4, 2018 Was this page helpful? In Michigan, there has been multiple sightings of 'black panthers,' animals that were thought to be mountain lions, or pumas, except that they were black. This is only hearsay, however, since I'm only going on their stories. Joseph Pugliese 2.2K views 7 years ago Beautiful Bobcat in our yard as our. Still, these resilient animals reside in secluded areas across the United States, with current data suggesting they may even be returning to their historical regions! But even without that second look there was no question that we'd seen a coyote. The mountain lion is a large, slender cat, with a long rope-like tail. A total of 32 mountain lions have been struck and killed by vehicles in the study area since 2002. There also were camels, sloth and hyena, which migrated elsewhere. Use of and/or registration on any portion of this site constitutes acceptance of our User Agreement, Privacy Policy and Cookie Statement, and Your Privacy Choices and Rights (each updated 1/26/2023). 2023 Advance Local Media LLC. Although in captivity, they can live much longer. Unless I am only dealing with a lot of delusional people with little judgment, something is out there. They mostly live in the far western Trans-Pecos region of the state, where they can freely roam 50,000 to 80,000 acres of land. Puma vs Mountain Lion: Is There a Difference? Albinos are often very light sensitive, and they certainly are conspicuous, and most do not live very long. On a recent stifling morning in Adams County, the 290-pound mountain lion with perfect bone structure is ignoring the raw chicken breast and pork chops a handler tossed into his pen. A placard affixed to the fence outside Rocky's pen states that "cougars are solitary creatures and rarely seen by humans." Cougar Network tracks mountain lion expansion from the western U.S. to the east. And a bit of an unpleasant one at that, as they now faced ridicule or doubt whenever they discussed their sightings. And book one of these Poconos cabins rentals for the best outdoor access to these activities. The Pocono Mountains are . So many of these sightings have been proven wrong misidentified bobcats, coyotes or even house cats) that it would be irresponsible for a biologist to accept any of them as fact without absolute physical evidence hair, droppings, tracks or a road-killed animal. Same story as 'black panthers' across the country, because of course there, scientifically, can be no such thing. I regularly ask hunters and outdoors people if they've ever seen a mountain lion, or know of anyone that has. The Pocono Mountains are located in Northeastern Pennsylvania. Recent post: Why Is It Called Beaver Stadium? Biologists traced it back to the Black Hills of South Dakota, from where it ventured nearly 2,000 miles looking for a new mate. "They preyed upon the caribou, and probably the mastodon," Leslie wrote of these large animals flourishing on the grasses and cold-climate flora that sprouted following the glacier's retreat. Mountain lions live almost everywhere in the state of Washington. (PennLive has investigated many reports of mountain lions, and other mystery creatures, and has found no confirming evidence. Although unconfirmed, mountain lions continue to be reported in many spots across Pennsylvania, including several reports in the past couple months. Claws 'N' Paws Animal Park in Lake Ariel has two. Colorado and California have the highest estimated populations of mountain lions in the United States. Mountain lions' canines are 3 to 4 inches long. Noted Wayne County historian Phineas Goodrich recorded in his 1880 book on local history that the common gray wolf was much more common in this area than the cougar. Recently, on our Arizona Hummingbird and Bat Photo Shoot, I found a deer that had been hit by a car and had moved off to die beside a stream just 200 yards upstream from our lodge. The mountains and isolated forests of the state allow these large cats to live their lives without encountering humans very often. Here are the 15 US States That Have Mountain Lions. I'd love to hear of any reports you have. I usually follow-up on these reports and, via email or phone conversations, I receive more details. Two weeks ago, a friend of mine who teaches in one of the Monroe County school districts called to tell me he was sending me a photo of a mountain lion taken by one of his students in the Poconos. I spend a lot of time outdoors, and I've seen about 10 black bears in Pennsylvania, and all within ten miles of my home. But more importantly, he also said that regardless of color, he saw a big cat, with a tail that looked to be about 4 feet long! Many people have claimed to see them, and this writer chronicled numerous such reports in the local press from the mid-1990s to the 2010s. Compare any game camera image with the shots above, or this game camera image, to confirm your identification. He knows and was familiar with bobcats, and it was not a weird house cat that he and his friends misjudged in size. On that, I've had emails sent with game trail photo attachments, or killed pumas, supposedly shot in Pennsylvania, but these were hoaxes. At one time mountain lions, or more properly puma (Puma concolor), enjoyed the widest geographic range of any New World mammal, and were found throughout all of the contiguous United States. Your California Privacy Rights/Privacy Policy. "We've been here 45 years and I've probably been told by people at least 100 times that they've seen a cougar or mountain lion," said owner Vince Hall. Mountain lions (cougars, pumas, and more) are among the top predators that live in the United States. After a gestation period of 90 days, female mountain lions will give birth to litters of about one to six cubs. We hope you enjoy this foray into the most weird and wonderful our beloved Pocono Mountains have to offer. Erosion from glacial melt and violence glaciers did to the land left a. About half of the state of Montana is ideal for mountain lions, primarily in her western and central regions. If there were wild cougars in our midst, the Game Commission also pointed out, eventually there would be solid evidence such as a carcass, scat and paw prints that could be verified. A Game Commission vehicle was there, and the Fed Ex driver, after reaching the bottom of a long hill, turned back to check on what he saw. What does a Mountain Lion look like on a game camera? A brief look, yes, but no question we saw a coyote. In January, the U.S. do I get an immediate, 'Oh yeah!' Are Mountain Lions in Missouri Making a Comeback? The other site, The Cougar Network, is still active, and is reporting the cats expanding range from the West, but offers little about the phenomenon of Pennsylvania cats. Only when I reviewed the images on my laptop did I discover that I had a mountain lion! But more and more people in Pennsylvania, from the Alleghenies to the Poconos to rolling farmlands in York County, claim they are seeing the big cats here, even though the state's "last" native lion, also known as a cougar or puma, was shot and killed in Berks County in 1871 and the feds have declared the Eastern subspecies extinct. It was recorded in Minnesota and Wisconsin in late 2009 and early 2010, and then died in Connecticut in 2011. To be fair, I've also spoken with people who, at first, thought they'd seen a puma only to find, to their embarassment, that they were looking at a house cat! If youve done any research on your own, you may have noticed that we didnt include a lot of states that have had cougar sightings, especially in the last few years. He notes how over the millennia, the region was inhabited by humans, only to be depopulated by migration brought on by the search of food due to a fickle climate, war or epidemic. Granted, the image is not great, and I used some Photoshop adjustment layers to enhance the image, making it a bit easier to see. The claim of mountain lions on the move was bolstered in 2009 when one was killed by a car in Greenwich, Conn. He wrote that not being a roving animal, the mountain lion was much sooner destroyed than the wolf, and he said that if there were any left, it would have to be in the most desolate places in the county. (What is meant by "heads" is not clear.). I don't believe someone's imagination could stretch a six inch long tail to three feet! Like Arizona, New Mexico is the perfect home for mountain lions. I asked our Game officials about evidence, and they cite no road kills. The record size for this species is 8 feet, and it probably weighed 15 to 20 pounds, which shows how exaggerated this claim is. The name Pocono is derived from the . Possibly, but it seems unlikely that enough would have been released or had escaped to make for a viable population. Flying over the area, I've looked down and commented upon the amount of habitat that would be available for a puma, if only they existed. Imagination? Geologist Dr. John Yolton made the identification. However, my friend and I discussed this, and agreed, we saw what we saw, and had it been 40 years ago or four months ago, we knew we saw a coyote. Who knows? And yet today the debate continues: Are there mountain lions in Pennsylvania? Mountain lions have killed humans in the wild, though sightings and encounters are rare even in the American West and Canada. All rights reserved (About Us). Check out our online field guide to read more in this series. No An official form of the United States government. Travis Lau, a spokesperson for the Game Commission, said the state has a "never say never" approach when it comes to mountain lions and acknowledges that Western cats could be moving east. Fish and Wildlife Service. Are mountain lions on their way to Pennsylvania? The image in the Upper Left was from a Game Camera, sent to me by a friend. After all, skeptics often suggest that puma sightings are just deer sightings, so it would be logical to worry that a hunter might shoot an endangered puma, mistaking it for a brown deer. For example, one man I interviewed said he saw a 'black' puma, and this should disqualify his sighting as a black puma has never been recorded. Please keep scrolling - ALL the Puma posts are included. Mountain lions thrive there due to the high elk population, dense forests, and isolated mountain ranges. Adults are a uniform tan or tawny in color, with a white or cream-colored chin, undersides and inner legs. Mary saw the photo, too, and she immediately agreed, it was a puma. People can manipulate, enhance or combine photos and then create their own stories about the subject's origin, location and even identification. While there have been no confirmed occurrences of mountain lions in Pennsylvania since the late 1800s, dozens of sincere reports of sightings and tracks and even more hoaxed reports emerge across the state each year. These cubs are born blind and helpless. What does a Puma (Mountain Lion) look like on a Game Camera? There are deserts, mountains, and swamps in the state of Utah, all of which are suitable for mountain lions. The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of Advance Local. I've seen scores of leopards in the grasslands and deserts of East Africa and I've never seen, nor spoke with anyone, who has seen a black leopard there. It also mentioned that someone raising a mountain lion without a license may either have let it go when it became too large to handle, or that the animal had escaped. Over the last few years I've done several Questions of the Month regarding Mountain Lions, or Pumas as they should properly be called, in the Mid-Atlantic States and in Pennsylvania. Mountain Lions do remain in the western states and there is evidence that in 2011, a mountain lion migrated about 1,500 miles from South Dakota to Connecticut where it was killed by a. I want to believe they're here, but I'm having some trouble. The last native mountain lion known to be killed in Pennsylvania is on display in the State Museum of Pennsylvania in Harrisburg. The claim of mountain lions on the move was bolstered in 2009 when one was killed by a car in Greenwich, Conn. This is actually a good thing, as genetic isolation generally weakens a species. Still, people say they know what they saw out there. Sadly, the hunting guidelines for cougars in Idaho are lax, with 400-600 cats being killed each year. Most of the people I've spoken with live in this belt, but biologists friends I've spoken with have told me of their own reports, first-hand, from hunters in the Poconos who saw pumas, too. Note the size of the tail, the pointed ears, the speckled coat, the basic lack of white underneath. The Golden State has one of the largest populations of mountain lions in the country. In Pennsylvania, I receive a few reports of black, big cats, which makes one wonder -- are there melanistic (black) pumas out there, or are those sightings always wrong. Granted, the image is not great, and I used some Photoshop adjustment layers to enhance the image, making it a bit easier to see. When I first discovered this fresh carcass I examined it for throat punctures, thinking that it may have been killed by a puma. At one time this fact almost resulted in this cat not being protected, since it wasn't a pure strain. He's a hunter, a woodsman, and he's seen a lot of game, so I can believe he saw a back-lighted puma. Woolly mammoth bones were discovered in Bradford County in 1983. September 21st, 2008, 08:14 PM #74. With healthy populations and strong conservation programs, however, they seem to be pushing back east. "While it seems unlikely, it's not impossible that these animals are showing up in PA," said David Foster, a biology professor at Messiah College in Mechanicsburg. Bushkill Falls Trail. He saw a big cat. Many of those claiming to have encountered a cougar in Pennsylvania take that non-confirmation by the commission as an attack on their veracity and character. I don't want to seem like a nut case here, but I must ask this question and you'll soon understand why? Obviously, other pumas must be about, and the series of ridges extending north and east and west from my location could all be included as critical habitat as well. 2023 Advance Local Media LLC. Ironically, I almost deleted the image, as on the small camera LCD monitor the cat was small and I thought that it was just another deer that moved along the stream. The head of the puma is small in comparision to a house cat when compared to the entire body. Now consider: If it was confirmed that there was a breeding population of endangered pumas on the mountain ridge behind my house, if the USFWS recognized the existence of this endangered species, what might happen? Some may also be kept illicitly as pets, which would quickly become a problem as the cat matures. ? Community Rules apply to all content you upload or otherwise submit to this site. A neighbor scared the animal away before it could finish its meal; the sheeps carcass was used as bait, to catch the big cat. Enter your email in the box below to get the most mind-blowing animal stories and videos delivered directly to your inbox every day. Martinelli said that if there were mountain lions in Pennsylvania, there would be more sightings of them. Consider that the endangered Florida puma has mixed genes. There is a small breeding population in the state, despite being killed off in the 1920s. According to the Pennsylvania Game Commission, there are no wild, breeding cougar populations in this state anymore. Over time, cats that had been released in Florida, probably pets that outlived their welcome, bred with the native puma, and their genes mingled. Angel, her African lioness who snarls at strangers, is a big girl. I've seen about 20 mountain lions, or pumas, in the field, but all but 2 were in Chile. "They're getting a lot of that out west. What equipment do we take in the field? Some may be animals that dispersed into the region from western populations. I've looked in the PGC game laws booklet and saw nothing on this, which I guess you could conclude means a puma would not be legal to shoot. "It's fall bow-hunting season soon," he said. They mostly live in the far western Trans-Pecos region of the state, with about 50,000 to 80,000 acres of suitable land currently being used by the cat. Murray also has a cross-eyed white tiger named Keisha, who crushed chicken bones with ease but delicately stepped into a metal pool to cool off. Would these ridges be declared off-limits for hunting? In the wild, adult mountain lions can weigh anywhere from 65 to 220 pounds. There are approximately 4,000 of those 10- to 40-pound cats in the state. The states beautiful wilderness and mountainous terrain are prime mountain lion habitats. The first is the mating season which can occur during the late to early spring months. Is there a correct position for the upright on a Wimberley actionhead? In some areas, entire populations of a species exhibit this trait, for unlike albinism, which results in a conspicuous white color and light-sensitive pink eyes, there are no ill effects with melanism. A Mountain Lion Cover Up The Cougar Network, working with state agencies, have documented multiple mountain lions as far east as Kentucky, Tennessee and Michigan in recent years, as well as one cat killed on a highway in Milford, Connecticut, in June 2011.