Reporter's Notes: Tracking Urban Lions

David Gorn Post on Jan 09, 2009 by
Topics: Biology, Environment, Radio

Credit: Felidae Foundation.

It's amazing that such large animals can live so near to urban areas and remain unseen – particularly since these animals inspire such fear and alarm whenever there is a reported sighting.

In a UC Davis study in Southern California, researchers found that humans and cougars live in close proximity to each other and often cover the same territory. And in Pacific Grove, near Monterey, cougars have been seen by police officers late at night on city streets.

In one unique incident in the Big Sur area, south of Monterey, a woman thought her dog was chewing something under her bed late one night. She shooed the animal out, smacked it on the rear end, and made it leave her bedroom – only to see a full-grown cougar stare back at her from her doorway.

These incidents are extremely rare. According to the California Department of Fish and Game, there have only been 14 mountain lion attacks in the past century. Most people don't see mountain lions. And in fact, wildlife officials say, almost all of the reported sightings of cougars are actually something else – dogs, bobcats, even deer. There was a report last year of a jogger in the Palo Alto hills being knocked over by a cougar, but that report was likely fabricated.  Humans might have a chance to spot a mountain lion only around dawn and dusk, officials say, and usually in remote areas at those times.

After California banned mountain lion hunting in 1990, the population doubled and possibly even tripled, according to state wildlife experts. But now, they say, those numbers have leveled off. Mountain lions are often killed by wildlife agencies when the big cats stray into urban areas. And many cougars die when they're hit by cars.

But the population remains relatively constant, at an estimated 4,000 to 6,000 animals in California. And that's because of their ability to remain almost invisible to humans.

Mountain lion hunters and researchers say that sometimes, even when a lion has been treed, even when the dogs are barking and other people are pointing to where the animal is, it can be hard to spot.

That's why they’re called the stealth predator. Now, researchers in the mountains above Silicon Valley are using new technology to learn more about these elusive animals.

Listen to the Tracking Urban Lions story online.


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  • Ariana Mindelzun

    Thank you for the story, "Tracking Urban Lions".
    Most coverage of mountain lions is highly sensationalized, overdramatically focused on their threat towards humans and not scientifically focused. This story was quite the opposite. It was scientific and factual, acurate when discussing mountain lions (actual) minor threat towards humans, and informative in describing the local research on them.
    Thank you very much, the public deserves to be accurately informed on the world of science and you did this with this story!

  • Kimbro

    It is 11:30PM. The cows were mooing intensely which is not normal for them at this time of night. They were gathered on a section of the hill and not moving. Just mooing like crazy. I couldn't see anything with my flashlight other than the eye reflections from the cows (wide apart and white in color). I got out the 1000 watt worklights and shone them on the hill. The cows were trying to escort a baby with a bad leg down the hill. Two mountain lions appear in the light. First the narrow yellow colored reflections then the outline of their long sleek bodies. One stepped into the light toward my direction and backed away. They both walked off beyond the horizon the the hilltop. Very quiet. I have never seen one before, let alone two at once. I did not know that they traveled or hunted in pairs. We have seen plenty of bobcats which are intimidating enough, just never cougars. We live in Sunol. Animal control had no interest in any of our prior contacts about the bobcats so I assume they won't care about this either. Any insights appreciated.