In less than a months time, rangers with the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area area have captured and placed a GPS collar on a second mountain lion. Found Saturday morning in a trap set by National Park Service scientists around Malibu Springs, the approximately 2-year-old lion became the 14th to wear a tracking collar around its neck. At the end of July, a female with a similar age was found and collared. P14 and P13, respectively, have blood samples being analyzed by researchers at UCLA to determine connections, if any, to other lions studied in mountains. more ›

Well, she may not be the newest or youngest in our local mountains, but she is the most recent cougar to be trapped, tagged and released by the National Park Service, who has been conducting a study with them over the past seven years. P-13 (they are named in the order they are caught) was captured on July 31st in the Hidden Valley region, which is the northwest sector of the mountains south of Newbury Park. She is now the third active GPS collar being tracked. more ›

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Los Angeles Times reporter Francisco Vara-Orta was quick to jump on the case of an alleged sighting of a mountain lion in the Eagle Rock vicinity on the morning of May 2nd 2008. Local police had received calls just before 9:00 am pertaining to a mysterious large cat prowling the backyard of a house on the 5000 block of College View Avenue. Usually in these kind of cases, when authorities turn up there is no sign of the suspected animal, but on this occasion several officers caught a glimpse of the elusive felid which was seen fleeing close to 2479 Niagara Way. more ›

In parts of the USA and Canada the native 'big cat' is the cougar (mountain lion, puma) which is also known as the 'panther.' However, the puma isn't actually a big cat, despite its size, it is simply the largest of the Lesser Cats as it cannot roar like the leopard, lion and tiger. In other regions of the world the 'panther' is a term to describe another, and official 'big cat,' being the darker form, or melanistic leopard (black panther as it has become known). more ›