Connecticut Mountain Lion in the news; killed by car

I have so much to blog about but decided to tackle this post first...

Reuters photo of road killed mt. lion
(Taken from Yahoo! site)

On June 11, 2011 a mountain lion was hit and killed by an SUV in Connecticut. Here is a link to the Yahoo article since they allow comments. As I write this post, the article is only a day old and has over 1200 comments.  A common theme among the posters is that the state's Department of Environmental Protection in CT and the state agencies all throughout the East has been denying, covering up and otherwise lying to the public concerning the existence of mountain lions in the Eastern United States. Scores of people are providing their own sightings as proof that these cats exist. However, I am interpreting the evidence in a completely different light. Let me explain:

Earlier in the month, several people reported seeing a mountain lion in a town about 45 miles from where this cat was killed. Then a resident snapped a blurry photo and the DEP investigated by measuring the tree in the photo and even used a pet dog to re-stage the scene (the dog was led to the same location as the animal photographed and since the dog is of a known size, they could determine the size of the creature in the photo). Based on that investigation, the DEP determined the critter in the photo WAS a mountain lion. Tracks were found and casts were made. The eyewitness testimony was backed up by compelling physical evidence that anyone could examine.

About one week and 45 miles later, a mountain lion is hit by a vehicle and killed. Some are claiming that these instances are proof that the state wildlife agency has been lying to the public for years. However, I am interpreting these stories differently. They show that when the DEP is presented with proof of the existence of mountain lions, they admit it and present it to the public. Secondly, they show that when these animals truly DO occur in an area, providing concrete proof of their existence is easier than some would want us to believe.  The odds are good that the cat that was killed is somehow related to the mountain lion that was photographed (either the exact same individual or they share a common origin). It is less likely that they are completely unrelated and happened to both have surfaced at the same time. And it is even more unlikely that mountain lions have been wandering in Connecticut (or any other state) for decades (the length of time sightings have been reported) and only now are being photographed and hit by cars.

Measuring mountain lion stride
(Great Falls, Montana 2/11)

In summary, everywhere mountain lions exist, they are documented through physical evidence. They are struck by vehicles, they are photographed by camera traps, etc etc. But most importantly, they leave tracks behind. Certainly, snow provides the easiest medium for finding tracks, but even in places with little snow (like Connecticut) or no snow like Florida, mountain lions and other terrestrial critters still leave tracks in dirt, sand and mud. I will not be surprised if no new photos emerge of the living mountain lion in Greenwich. I will not be surprised when the state DEP announces that the mountain lion killed shows signs of a captive life (for example, other mountain lions killed in the east over the past few decades have been neutered, declawed, show wear marks to their paws that are consistent with captive pacing rather than free-roaming travel, and of course, South American or Western DNA). And unfortunately, I will not be surprised when some take this opportunity to bash the professional wildlife community simply because they do not tell them what they want to hear.

Cat Track Fever III: Oddities on the trail of wild cats

My two previous posts have focused on showing you typical tracks in order to teach the basics. However, we saw our share of odd things during the week-long workshop on mountain lion tracking. Below is a sampling of some of the more interesting things we found:

Bobcat tracks with nails distended
(Montana, 2/11)

1. Bobcat nails. On the last day, we found some relatively fresh bobcat tracks and followed them for about a hundred yards. Along the trail, there was a rise. The bobcat stopped and sat near the top, just where the view would be the best. The 'cat resumed his travels and as it went down the steep icy slope, it distended its toes and extended its nails thus leaving some very odd looking tracks. In my last post, I showed how a cat's toes point forward in the track while a dog's toes point in a sprawling pattern. This bobcat is purposefully sprawling its toes in order to gain better traction.

Having nails show in a track is also more typical of a dog than a cat. But check out the marks that the nails left. They are thin slices rather than the more blunt marks made by a dog's nails. I can remember thinking at the time that they looked like slices from Samurai swords. I am not sure why I came up with that particular imagery, since I have never seen a Samurai sword in action.

Bobcat imperfect step (Montana, 2/11)

2. Bobcat imperfect step. While walking, it is typical for a cat to place its hind foot perfectly into the track left by the front foot. This is called "direct registering". However, not every single step lands perfectly. Here is an example of an imperfect step that makes the cat look like it had five toes.

If you look carefully at this track, you can see the mis-shaped foot pad. The toe that is all the way to the right is actually from the front foot. The rear foot came down a little off center and covered all of the rest of the front track. But that is nothing compared to the next photo.

Bobcat imperfect step showing heel print
(Montana, 2/11)

Here, we not only have an imperfect step, but we can see the entire heel pad of the hind foot. This is the part of the foot that normally does not touch the ground while the cat walks. However, the snow was deep and with the slight changes in topography, there were a few places where the whole foot left an imprint. This one is particularly odd because it combines the heel print with the imperfect step so it leaves a human-like five-toed print. One final thought: These are good examples of how a single track can be deceiving! Look at trails whenever possible...

Tail slap from mountain lion
(Montana, 2/11)

3. Mountain lion marks. Before I took this mountain lion tracking workshop, I had the impression that I would be seeing tail drag marks as a normal part of a cougar's trail. However, that was not the case. We tracked numerous lions over several different days for miles in deep snow and in all that time I only found a single mark in the snow that I could identify as from a lion's tail. I would call this a tail slap rather than a drag mark. There is a lot going on in this photo. I have to admit to not being able to decipher all of the action...

The lion is moving towards the bottom of the photo. Note the foot drags, bit tail drags in the trail. Also, see that the lion left an impression of its body in the snow, almost as if it crouched. Combine the body print with the tail slap and I had the impression (no pun intended) that the cat was startled or otherwise reacted quickly to something. Did he (track size indicated male) hear or see something of interest? After this brief oddity, the trail resumed its "normal" pattern.

Cat Track Fever II: Comparing dog and mountain lion tracks 101

In my last post, I showed some typical tracks of mountain lions, lynx and bobcat. Today, let's take a look at how to tell the difference between mountain lions and domestic dogs. They can be similar in size and both have four toes, but there are some important differences and a fair amount of misinformation. So we should start with some ground rules. First, I would not call myself an expert. There are many people that have been studying tracks far longer than I have. Consider this an introduction to the topic, not the dissertation. Secondly, tracking is part art and part science. Not every track is textbook perfect. Study trails, not just an individual track. And finally, remember that tracking is best learned in the field. Take what you learn here and in other sources and practice, practice, practice!

1. Dog tracks have nails and cats don't.... right? Well, often that is true. But don't count on that being true all of the time. A domestic dog may have nails that are kept short. And at can extend nails for traction or other reasons. Here is a dog track from the dog park in Great Falls Montana that did not have obvious nails present:

Domestic dog track, no nails (Great Falls, Montana 2/11)

Even if a cat track shows nails, it is my experience that these nail marks are different in quality than a dog's nails. A cat's nails are sharper than a dog's and the marks left are more like a slice than the blunt marks from a dog nail. Never look at a single track. Read an entire trail.

A final word on this subject: I have had numerous occasions where a person did not recognize the dots in front of a toe as claw marks. Sometimes these marks can be awfully close to the toe and hard to see. The person with the "cat" track is convinced their are no claw marks and is frustrated when I contradict him/her.

2. Dog tracks are symmetrical, cat tracks are not. As I mentioned in my last post, a cat track is similar to a human hand (not counting the thumb) with a longer pointer finger and a smaller pinkie. A dog will have a track that is very symmetrical and can essentially be folded in half. Here are two photos, one a domestic dog and the other a mountain lion. Each has had wires placed on the top of them to show the alignment of the individual toes (I cannot seem to post photos side by side, so they will be stacked one after the other).

Domestic dog track (Great Falls, Montana)

Bilateral symmetry means that the right side looks like the left side. You can see that by looking at the center wire. Next, look at the wires that run horizontal. These wires are nearly parallel.

Mountain lion track (Montana, 2/11)

Here is a mountain lion track with wires laid from the top of the two upper toes, the bottom of the two upper toes, the bottom of the outer toes and the bottom of the heel pad. There is no symmetry here! The wires are slanted at different angles.








3. Shape of the heel pad. As I mentioned in my last post, this is not really the "heel" but rather the ball of the foot. But most authors refer to this as the heel pad so I will do as well. The leading edge of the heel pad is bi-lobed or double humped, whereas a dog will only have a single lobe or hump. The trailing edge of the pad is tri-lobed in the mountain lion but some dogs can show this as well. This was a great track that we are preparing for a plaster casting.

Mountain lion track before casting
(Montana, 2/11)

What you are looking at is a male mountain lion track with a plastic ring around it (just a plastic container with the bottom removed). The plastic serves as the border for the plaster. Enlarge this photo to look at the bi-lobed front edge of the pad. Now note the shape of that heel pad. It is that wide shape that gives us our next "trick" to tell a  dog from a lion. Remember that negative space I talked about yesterday? That is the undisturbed part between the toes.Well, let's make an X that starts between the two right toes and crosses in the pad with a line that starts between the two left toes. That X will cross INSIDE the pad. Now let's take a look at a dog track for comparison...

Domestic dog track (Great Falls,Montana 2/11)

The pad of this dog track clearly shows that there is only one lobe at the front instead of the two we saw on the lion. Also, if we make the same X that we did on the lion track, we find a different result. Start at the front of the track between the two right toes and draw a line between the toes towards the back of the track. Then draw another line starting at the front of the track between the two left toes and continue it to the back of the track. The X that results does not cross in the heel pad but rather stays in the negative space.

4. Where are those toes pointing? We are going to take out our super special tracking wires (Gotta give Jay credit for those wires! So simple, but so effective) again but this time we will use them to show the direction the toes were pointing at the time the track was made. First, the mountain lion:

Mountain lion track showing forward
facing toes (Montana, 2/11)

Domestic dog track showing splayed toes (Montana, 2/11)

In the dog track, we see a different pattern. Look at how splayed out the toes are. Again, the odd wire is along the base of the pad and the other four wires trace the direction the each toe points. This pattern is not true of all members of the dog family. Coyotes will show toes that point forward, but the track will still look far different than a mountain lion (and be a lot smaller).





We learned more. But that is enough to digest in a single post.

Cat Track Fever: Mountian lion, lynx and bobcat compared

Tomorrow I will start covering Felines in class and that prompted me to update my presentation after taking a mountain lion tracking course this winter. I wrote a little about that course in the post "In like a lion..."  http://con102.blogspot.com/2011/03/in-like-lion.html  but I want to spend some more time on the subject...

The course was held the first week in February and used Great Falls, Montana as the home base of operations (although we travelled each day). We had the opportunity to compare and contrast all three wild cat species of Montana during the week, which was particularly helpful.

Cat tracks of just about any species have some commonalities. First, cats only walk on their toes and the "balls" of their feet. This is called "digitigrade" meaning "walking on the digits". There are four toes that normally show in either front or rear tracks. What people often call the heel pad of the track is actually the ball of the foot or the part just past the toes. The heel of a cat sits high up the leg and generally doesn't show in a normal gait. The four toes are arranged something like the four fingers of a human hand. Look for the longer of the two center toes to be the index finger and you will be able to tell a right from a left track. For example:



Bobcat, left print (Massachusetts, 1/11)

 Looking at the bobcat track to the right, I can see this is a left foot as the pinkie is all the way to the left and the index finger is to the right of center. Further, this will be a rear track. This bobcat was walking and stepping precisely in the impression made by the front foot. This is called "direct registering" and is common among many animals, but only in certain strides.

With no scale in this picture, you will have to trust me this is a bobcat. But the real purpose is to get you to start seeing right from left tracks.

Also note that there are no nail marks. I can assure you that sometimes cats will show nails and sometimes dogs of several species will not! However, this remains a valuable trait to note as I will explain in another post. One last piece of tracker terminology I need to share is the term "negative space" to refer to the part of the track BETWEEN toes and pads. For example, look at the undisturbed snow below the toes but above the ball of the foot. That is what some trackers call negative space.

Mountain lion: Mountain lions or cougars or puma or panthers or whatever you call them where you live have a track that is is large. A male lion being bigger should leave a larger track and I have seen measurements given in reference texts as large as 4+ inches long and over 3.5 inches wide. Please note that these numbers overlap what is given for lynx, so we will have to look at other clues besides just size to tell those two species apart. Here is a great example of a mountain lion track from Montana:



Mountain lion track, probably male (Montana, 2/11)

 We measured heel pads as well as overall track width. Jay, the instructor, made a good point that overall track size is more variable than the heel pad since the track has more than one part to it. So if the toes are splayed for traction that will effect the size of the track even though thte size fo the animal has not changed. The heel pad was also very easy to measure and he has found that a 2 inch heel pad is a good indication of a male lion versus a smaller female. Quick quiz! Is this a right or a left track? Did you get the answer RIGHT?

To measure the heel pad (which remember, is not really a heel but is commonly called that) we used a compass to get the most accurate measurement. I like that technique and carried one in my jacket pocket for the rest of the winter. I ended up jabbing myself more than anything so note to self was get one that still has the protective sleeve :)




Measuring a mountain lion track (Montana, 2/11)

  I have so many photos from this trip that it has been hard to select only the few to post here on the blog. None can capture the pure exhiliration I felt at being in the same space as these amazing creatures. It was with near reverence that I placed my fingers into the first set of tracks we found, knowing that only a few hours earlier a mountian lion had been there in that very spot. Like any true fan grinning over the autograph of his/her favorite athlete, singer or movie star, I could not help but gush over these signatures in the snow...

Final thoughts on the lion tracks: I was immediately struck with how easy they were to find. I know I said this in my March post, but if we had mountain lions here in the eastern US, the evidence for them would be overwhelming, abundant and readily available for all to examine and judge.







Lynx: Although lynx tracks can rival mountain lion tracks in size, there are several key differences. First, since the lynx is much smaller, the stride of the lynx's trail will be shorter. Secondly, there are some habitat preferences that can be used as a clue, especially in the winter. Lynx are much more comfortable in deeper snow and are often found higher in the mountains. Finally, the lynx track is simply a different shape than the mountain lion. Given that and the difference in stride length, I found it easy to distinguish the ones we found. Of course, after a one-week class, I am no expert and I am certain that there would be many exceptions out in the field. My point is only that with a little practice, anyone can achieve a modest level of proficiency in telling these two critters apart by tracks.



Lynx track (Montana, 2/11)

 
Using my glove for scale, you can see that overall this track is quite large and rivals a mountain lion. These are its natural snowshoes. However, look closely at the toes in particular. They are much smaller than the robost toes of the lion. Much of the track is fuzzy and indistinct due to the hair on the paws of the lynx. There is more negative space between each toe. Although the direction of travel is not in doubt in this track, I want to share something else jay taught us. We followed some old or wind blown tracks during the week that were not distinct at all and he said one good way to discern direction of travel is to remember "long in and short out". In other words, there is a long entry mark in the snow and a short exit mark. This is clear in the track to the right and I found it to be true for most tracks of all species.

We had to drive high into the mountains to find lynx. Jay knew of a road that had a ski resort at the end so it remained open high up. the scenery was amazing and the cold air felt good, as if I had earned it. I have never seen a wild lynx no less its tracks before so this was really something special. I took a photo of Jay and Bret inspecting the first set of lynx tracks we found to give you an idea of the terrain.

Bobcat: I am tired writing so you must be tired of reading by now! Thanks for hanging in there! Of our three cats toay, the bobcat leaves the smallest track of all and can even be as small as a house cat in some parts of its range. Halfpenny gives a size of less than 2 inches in his track book. We found bobcat tracks everywhere we found mountain lion. It wasn't until the final day that I discovered a set first. They seemed pretty fresh to me and we followed them for about 40 yards. here is a great example with my hand print for scale.


Bobcat track (Montana, 2/11)


By now you should be able to recognize the characteristic cat track shape. You should also be able to tell me if this is a right or left track. Bobcat are only starting to come back to the Finger Lakes region of NY and I cannot wait for the day when we have a breeding population to call our own. Until then, I will have to settle for traveling to see my wild cats becuase house cat just doesn't count :)

Unless the cameras turn up something unusual, I am thinking of two more posts on cat tracks. One will show some of the oddities we found while tracking the three species and the other will show specifics on how to tell lion tracks from dog tracks. Until then, I hope you are feline fine and having a purrfect day. :)

Eastern Cougar extinct

After completing a five year study, the USFWS has declared that the Eastern cougar, a subspecies of the cougar (or mountain lion or puma or panther or one of several other names) extinct. They point out in their study that most of the tiny number of documented mountain lions in the east have proven to be from Western or South American origin. They found very little physical evidence for mountain lions of any heritage to be in the east.

Captive mountain lion (2003)

If you know me, you know this is a topic of great interest for me. I have a professional interest in this subject and believe it is the perfect way to teach students about critical thinking, the role of science, what counts as evidence and how to discern good sources of information from bad.

So I have been following news stories and have taken the time to read many comments posted by readers and found very little new. Same story: I saw one. My neighbor saw one. I saw a picture of one..... you know the drill...

Last night I found an article that caught my eye because of the title. Posted on Yahoo News, this author based his belief in east mountain lions partly on some photos that were emailed to him of a mountain lion from a town in Connecticut. It only took me 30 seconds to find the history of those photos ( a new hoax for me, by the way) and they were debunked over a year ago. I sent the author the link to that previous article, gave him a little background on my history and asked if there was any way to correct the misinformation in the article.

I should pause here and say that when I contact people about misinformation, one of three things happens. Sometimes I never hear from them. A few times, I have gotten rude replies, but some of that might be my fault too. It is hard to tell someone they are wrong tactfully, especially when it is someone you have no history with. Often, they contact me with more questions and I get an apology or a retraction (I got Channel 8 News in Rochester to retract a story on air this fall). Brad, the author of the story in question, was in this last group. He sent me a very nice email and got his editor to add a paragraph to the story (see link below). Even though I had no classes to teach today, I felt as if I was an educator.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ac/20110304/tr_ac/7987914_mountain_lions_still_prowl_new_england_forests_despite_report

Many people assume that since there are so many sightings of mountain lions (John Lutz, founder of the Eastern Puma Research Network boasts of collecting of over 11,000 mountain lion sightings through his organization). The theory is that all of these people cannot be wrong. But the paradox of the situation is that the more sightings, the more lions there must be. And the more lions, the more physical evidence. See, if there were only a few sightings spread over a large area over many years, no one could say for sure that the sightings were not legitimate. But we have many sightings in many locations for many years and still no "smoking gun". No physical evidence.

So some people spend a great deal of effort documenting many stories when in fact they are only undermining their case in the process. Many cats means much physical evidence and that is not the case. If 99% of Lutz's stories were misidentifications, that would still leave 110 actual cougar sightings. That doesn't mean there are 110 mountain lions, as one individual cat would be seen multiple times, but it still would represent dozens of individual cats. And if there had been dozens of cats in the east, at least some (or one) of them would be hit by cars, captured on trail cameras, get treed by hounds, shot by hunters, produce scat, tracks, kills and other physical evidence, etc. The TRUE amount of misidentification in this story is probably closer to 99.99%. Here is one of my favorite misidentifications, although it does not involve a mountain lion :)

Red fox (Mt. Washington, NH 1999)

In 1999, Bruce Gilman and I took students on an environmental course to Newfoundland. On the first day, we drove to New Hampshire to take the cog railroad to the top of Mount Washington. It is a fun trip and really gives the students a sense of the various ecosystems we will encounter. There was a fox den near the parking lot and one adult and several pups were poking around on that rainy afternoon. One pup was fairly close so I grabbed my camera and stood perfectly still as he came out of the brush. Another visitor, not from our group, joined me and we stood elbow to elbow snapping photos as the pup emerged, shook off the rain and loped into the brush about 45 feet away. I turned to the man and smiled. He smiled back and from under his Red Sox hat he said "Bobcat, right?" ... I was momentarily speechless. I was not expecting that at all. Did he not just see that long bushy tail get shaken? How about a dozen other characteristics that differentiate a dog (red fox) from a feline (bobcat)? I am sure some of that confusion was visible on my face, but I managed to only say "Oh...no, red fox." But what do you expect from a Red Sox fan?

"In like a lion..."

We had a nice thaw just the other day, so I am not sure that we can say that THIS March has come in like a lion, but that old expression gives me the perfect transition to talk about my recent trip to Montana to learn about mountain lions. Meet Jay Tischendorf. Jay offers a workshop on mountain lion tracking, ecology and management through his educational entity AERIE. The course began on February 1st in Great Falls, Montana and we spent four very full days in the field identifying tracks from lions, lynx, bobcat, coyote and domestic dog. I learned a lot and feel much more prepared for the next time someone presents me with tracks they found in NY that they believe came from a mountain lion. In fact today, the USFWS issued a formal statement regarding their five year review of the Eastern cougar.

It said, in part: "The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) conducted a formal review of the available information and, in a report issued today, concludes the eastern cougar is extinct and recommends the subspecies be removed from the endangered species list."  


Jay photographing male
cougar tracks (Montana, 2/11)

I was struck by how easy it was to find lion tracks. We went to four different locations and each time, we came across at least two different trails. I asked Jay how he had discovered such rich sign, assuming he was going to tell us about his years of dedicated searching that led him to these special locations. Instead he sheepishly admitted: "These are the only canyons plowed in the winter." The trails were obvious and readily available for all to inspect. And I should note that this was AFTER the hunting season, so we had fewer lions than even a few weeks earlier. There is simply no way to hide a population of lions; their sign is just too easy to find and distincitve to identify.



Male mountain lion track, Montana

 We were able to compare tracks from similar species. We compared lion to lynx. We spent over an hour at a dog park looking at various tracks and learned the obvious and subtle differences between dogs and cats. We measured. We made plaster casts. We laid out wire rods to measure angles. It was very thorough and enjoyable.

On tha last day, I told Jay I needed some proof that I was actually present at these tracks. I had taken all the photos up to that point, but what could I do to document that I was there in person? Jay took a few photos of me posing next to a set of mountain lion prints, but I was afraid that just wouldn't do it. Then I had an idea. The conditions were such that we had a frozen layer of snow under a lighter layer of snow. This provided nice clear tracks, but also made it possible for me to actually chisel a track out of the snow to hold. We used some of Jay's spray wax to add contrast and I had my proof!

JVN holds lion track. Photo by
Jay Tischendorf

I have never seen a mountain lion in the wild. Laura and I camped in Zion National Park for Thanksgiving in 1989. It snowed a good inch the first day and when I woke up in the morning, I found lion tracks crossing (but showing no interest in) our tracks about 100 yards from our tent. I HAVE been up close and personal with captive mountain lions. We used to take the nature photgraphy classes to a place in Canada that had captive native wildlife. About the only species we couldn't actually go into the pen with was the cougar. The shooting was great though and I have managed to publish a few of my nicer pictures from those days. Here are three of my personal favorites:






Danika, age 4 (Massey, Ontario)


CUTE: One summer, Laura, Danika and I went up by ourselves to this establishment. It was nice to see the animals at a different time of year and even nicer to share this adventure with my family (they had heard all the stories...). Danika was four and it just so happened that her pre-school teacher had just given each of them a single-use camera with the assignment to take pictures of interesting things. Here she is taking a photo of a mountain lion cub. She also took photos of bobcats, fox, wolves, and a moose. When the photos were returned to the students, there was a note from her teacher that said: "What are these animals and where did you take these pictures?" :)

NOT SO CUTE: Everyone has to eat and since this is NOT a Disney movie, the predators at this place actually ate meat. Wilson, the owner, would buy the day-old chicks from a nearby egg farm (they only needed female chicks to replace their laying hens and would destroy the males). We would then feed these frozen chicks to the mountain lions, one at a time. This was a special treat for them only when photographers were there. You could get the lions to move to where you wanted them by launching some food in that direction. The encloser featured some interesting boulders, a rock face, some logs, etc. and this allowed some variety in our photos. One year, we brought a student that had a pitching arm like a pro and he could get those chicks to wherever we wanted them. That got me thinking about how good the lions would be at catching their food. So we instructed Justin to throw them just out of reach so the lion would have to lunge for it. Here are the two best photos I got of that experience.


Mountain lion feeding (Captivity)



Mountain lion feeding (Captivity)