Mountain lion latrines: photo courtesy of Felidae Conservation Fund/Bay Area Puma Project

FelidaeFund/Bay Area Puma Project is using non-invasive methods to collect mountain lion scat for research. The excrement is used for monitoring the health and genetics of the local puma populations. Although people do stumble across puma scat and occasionally latrines, we aren’t very efficient or successful at finding them. And, sometimes coyote or another meso-predator’s scat is mistaken as having been left behind by a puma. Because trained scent dogs are more successful and much faster at finding scat then humans are, FelidaeFund recruited Finn, a smart working dog, along with her well-trained handler, Michelle for the job. Watching the team work was impressive.

Scent dog team searching for mountain lion scat

When Finn first detected the lion’s scent next to my wildlife camera at the bottom of the canyon she sprinted straight up the steep 85 degree incline, through sticky brush and tall grass until she found her prize—puma poop. The two human members of the team followed close behind her. Not wanting to slow everyone down, I waited below, my eyes fixated on my phone; waiting impatiently for texts about what the dog had found.  Finn’s sensitive nose led the team to a welcomed find—mountain lion latrines.

Mountain lion latrines

Mountain lion latrines are often found near puma kills, sometimes adjacent to a trail and/or under brush. Although, they can be within 15 feet or so from the carcass, they can also be located further away¹. Latrines can contain between 1-5 scats, but it varies widely; sometimes lions will defecate in one place several times or they’ll use it only once and then move on to another spot. According to the Mountain Lion Foundation the latrines vary in size and in mound height. After defecating in the latrines, lions will usually cover the excrement with forest detritus—this is one of the few circumstances when pumas cover². Possibly, covering the excrement near kills minimizes the possibility of unwelcomed predators, including other pumas, coyotes and bobcats from detecting the smell, being drawn to the fresh carcasses and helping themselves to free meals.³

The locations of mountain lion latrines are not arbitrary. Pumas don’t sit down to a meal and eat the whole thing in one sitting; they consume their prey in multiple feedings. Because a single deer carcass can feed a puma for a few days to a week, it’s practical for lions to make latrines close to the carcass. Covering them reduces the smell factor.⁴

A mountain lion’s favorite meal is venison.

Genetic checks

The scat that Finn triumphantly tracked down contains genetic material as well as other valuable components that provide insights about the health of the individual who produced it. DNA analysis of the canyon scat coupled with a larger sample base collected from other Bay Area locations will reveal information about stress levels of the local lions and the amount of inbreeding that is occurring because of fragmented, shrinking habitats and blocked wildlife corridors. Collectively, the information will help establish the necessity of building wildlife crossings over and under the highways to encourage genetic diversity within the wildlife populations.

Health check ups

The scat Finn tracked down also provides details about the canyon mountain lions health and the general health of the ecosystem. It reveals the individuals’ menus, if they’re mostly consuming deer or relying on other prey animals for nourishment. Analysis will also identify the types of parasites and pathogens that are harbored in the puma’s systems as well as the presence of deadly second generation rodenticides. Thanks to Finn, collecting puma scat in the canyon was easy.

Dog with a job

Finn is a working dog. She has a highly tuned sense of smell and is blessed with millions more olfactory receptors then we sensory deprived humans possess. Having roughly 300 million olfactory receptors, her scenting capability is around 40 times more acute than ours. Because of her talented nose, she is trained to detect specific scents, including scat from a variety of animal species and even scents from a wide range of invasive plants. Finn and her person work for Working Dogs for Conservation and are excellent at their jobs.

Finn’s nose led her to the mountain lion latrines

Using force free methods, a diverse species of animals, including dogs, horses, pigs and cats can be trained to be successful scent animals⁵. The training process is relatively straight forward and includes drilling holes in sturdy, identical containers. Samples of objects that carry the scent the animal in training is being taught to recognize are put in a few of the containers, while the remaining are filled with other unrelated scents. When the animal trainee stops and sniffs at the container with the right scent, she’s reinforced. Clicker training is a fun, force free method commonly used to train animals.

Finn is very good at her job. After her nose led her to the puma poop, she sat down and excitedly wagged her tail. Of course, she was immediately reinforced with a treat for each triumphant success.

Who would think that puma poop plays such an important role in finding out about the health of the local puma population as well as other animals in the eco-system? The scat that Finn tracked down will provide wildlife researchers and conservationists with important genetic and health insights about the effects of urbanization.  Analysis of the scat from the canyon as well as from other locations in the area will hopefully contribute to projects that unblock wildlife corridors and create wildlife crossings under and over highways.

1, 3, 4. Elbroch, M., Kresky, M., Evans, J. 2012. Field Guide to Animal Tracks and Scat of California. University of California Press. pp 104, 163.

2. Pumas use their excrement to mark their territories as well as broadcast information about themselves.

5.Kat Donald. 2022, April. The Nose Knows (Olfactory Enrichment for All!), presentation for Animal Behavior Management Alliance (ABMA)

6. Thank you Zara McDonald for fact checking

Marilyn is a certified cat behavior consultant (The Cat Coach, LLC). Not surprisingly, she’s fascinated by feline behaviors. This started with household cats and then after witnessing a puma being killed a few blocks from her home in the suburbs, expanded to include local mountain lions and bobcats. A few years after the tragedy, she joined the Bay Area Puma Project/Felidae Conservation Fund, maintaining trail cameras, writing and helping wherever she can. Her focus is on how urbanization is affecting apex predators’ behaviors.

She is also an author and educator. Her book Naughty No More! focuses on solving cat behavior issues through clicker training, environmental changes as well as other positive reinforcement techniques. She gives presentations throughout the United States as well as writes columns and articles for a variety of venues. She is also frequently interviewed for podcasts, print and on line publications. Additionally Marilyn is a frequent guest on television and radio and has appeared, along with her Bengals and Savannah Cat on Animal Planet, CBS, ABC, KGO and other stations.

Join Marilyn for lively discussions about all things feline on her Facebook page.

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A scrape made by a mountain lion.

Kiosks, sign posts and community scrapes have a lot in common; they communicate important information from the posters to the community without the necessity of physical interaction. The location the pumas choose for their communication center isn’t random either. They strategically pick specific spots in the forest to convey messages to other pumas who patrol and visit the area. It also isn’t a coincidence that we perfectly aimed one of the Bay Area Puma Project’s trail cameras to record the puma action at this special place.

Mountain lion checking out a scrape

Anatomy of a mountain lion scrape

Watching videos of mountain lions scraping is reminiscent of watching movies in slow motion. The puma’s back legs and feet slowly and deliberately rake leaves, soil and twigs into small piles on one side of bared earth. Then they squat and either defecate or urinate on top of them. Vital information is conveyed about the scraper from the excrement and possibly through scent that is deposited from the underside of paws.

Location, location, location

Community scrapes are often located in places where mountain lion territories overlap and at shared borders. Scrapes are multi-functional; they warn other lions away, time stamp visits and help attract mates. This behavior is most often seen from male pumas. Because of urbanization, the available wild spaces are shrinking and the rules are changing. The size of territories are decreasing and becoming substantially fragmented by highways, residential development and other structures.

My guess is that this is affecting wildlife behaviors. Although, I haven’t found a published study about it, it’s possible that the local mountain lions are being forced to time share and overlap more of their territories with their puma neighbors than they have in the past. In order to avoid unpleasant encounters with each other, pumas may be making and using community scrapes more. Scrapes aren’t just found grouped together; pumas will also scrape on trails that they travel on.

Although many of the adult lions who visit the site scrape, the more dominant male often scrapes regularly. Generally, juveniles will check out the scrapes but will not leave their calling cards—it’s in their best interests not to announce their presence to unfriendly resident adult males.

The most dominant male usually scrapes and marks the most.

Prime directive of male pumas

Pumas, especially males, don’t practice diplomacy: encounters often lead to serious injuries and death. Because the prime survival directive of adult males is to reproduce and hunt, they habitually have a zero-tolerance policy for others of the same sex. In addition to food, males compete for a limited number of females who are in estrus at any given time. Not surprisingly, male mountain lion territories can overlap and include those of a small number of females—pivotal spots for the boys to advertise their availability for mating by scraping.

Prime directive of female pumas

Female mountain lions have different agendas than the males. Theirs is to survive, reproduce and care for their offspring until they are equipped enough to survive on their own. Usually, young mountain lions leave their mums to search for their own territories when they’re between 18 months and two years old. All of mom’s energy and intention goes into raising those precious kittens—she has no interest in boyfriends and usually won’t go into estrus until they disperse, unless a determined male kills her young with the sole intention of having her return to estrus and be ready to mate again.

Mountain lion family. Photo courtesy of Felidae Conservation Fund

Mountain lions looking for dates

Normally, after the youngsters leave their mums, females go into estrus and become obsessed with finding boyfriends. And, adult male pumas are open to the idea. It’s an all-consuming occupation. The girls visit the community scrapes, checking out the messages left by neighborhood and transient lions. They are seeking out the strongest males to mate with. Generally, the most successful boys are chosen. They are the ones who scrape the most frequently, depositing pheromones through their excrement on the scrapes. The girls readily ID them through a scenting process called the flehmen response. All felids, including our household cat companions have olfactory organs known as the vomeronasal organ located in the roofs of their mouths. Felids make a very distinctive face when they’re taking in the scent—their mouths partly open and their nose wrinkles.

It’s not just the boys who scrape, girls will too occasionally. Although they sometimes make their own fresh scrapes, when canvassing for boyfriends, they may urinate on the top of scrapes made by males who are candidates for mating. In addition to broadcasting their availability, it also helps to deter competitors. Of course they also advertise for romantic liaisons through calling.

The lines of communication are open

Although mountain lions are highly territorial and spend most of their lives alone, they still need each other to survive. For their survival as well as the species, it’s imperative that the lines of communication are open with other pumas in the hood as well as those who are passing through. Community scrapes work well—they provide ways for mountain lions to advertise for mates, delineate territories and time stamp their visits without direct confrontations.*

Marilyn is a certified cat behavior consultant (The Cat Coach, LLC). Not surprisingly, she’s fascinated by feline behaviors. This started with household cats and then after witnessing a puma being killed a few blocks from her home in the suburbs, expanded to include local mountain lions and bobcats. A few years after the tragedy, she joined the Bay Area Puma Project/Felidae Conservation Fund, maintaining trail cameras, writing and helping wherever she can, while learning how urbanization is affecting the apex predators’ behaviors.

She is also an author and educator. Her book Naughty No More! focuses on solving cat behavior issues through clicker training, environmental changes as well as other positive reinforcement techniques. She gives presentations throughout the United States as well as writes columns and articles for a variety of venues. She is also frequently interviewed for print and on line publications. Additionally Marilyn is a frequent guest on television and radio and has appeared, along with her Bengals and Savannah Cat on Animal Planet, CBS, ABC, KGO and others.

Join Marilyn for lively discussions about all things feline on her Facebook page.

*The following resources were used extensively in writing this article:
Some of the visuals that are included here are courtesy of Felidae Conservation Fund. Please check out Felidae’s work at www.felidaefund.org.

Hornocker and Negri. Cougar Ecology & Conservation. 2010. The University of Chicago Press

Maximilian L. Allen, Heiko U. Wittmer, Paul Houghtaling, Justine Smith, L. Mark Elbroch, Christopher C. Wilmers. The Role of Scent Marking in Mate Selection by Female Pumas (Puma concolor). https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0139087 October 21, 2015.

Bart J. Harmsen, Rebecca J. Foster, Said M. Gutierrez, Silverio Y. Marin, C. Patrick Doncaster. Scrape-marking behavior of jaguars (Panthera onca) and pumas (Puma concolor). https://academic.oup.com/jmammal/article/91/5/1225/902019 Journal of Mammalogy, Volume 91, Issue 5, 15 October 2010

Maximilian L. Allen a,∗ , Heiko U. Wittmer and Christopher C. Wilmers. Puma communication behaviours: understanding functional use and variation among sex and age classes. Behavior Brill, December 30, 2013

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After George died, the usual vibrant colors on the trail became dull

Life continues on

Despite the traumas and the natural and human made disasters that affect our world, life continues. In the midst of devastation, wildlife does its best to adapt, survive and regenerate. The life dramas in my favorite canyon still unfold and are continually recorded by my trail cameras. It’s all there, objectively imprinted on little memory cards which are copied and saved into the cloud. Thousands of 15-20 second videos document expected natural wildlife scenarios as well as the reactions of animals to unexpected events such as wildfires and the human responses to the pandemic.

Pandemic reset button

In addition to hoarding toilet paper during the initial pandemic months, people rarely ventured far from their back yards and front doors. Everyone was in lockdown. Streets became deserted, restaurants and businesses temporarily closed, downtowns were abandoned.  Urban centers transformed into ghost towns. Earth seemed to take note of the lack of human activity and momentarily reset herself. For the first time in years, the predominant sounds were bird calls and gentle breezes. The skies transformed into a rich blue and the mountains were no longer shrouded in brown smog. The air was so clear that the rock formations on the Farallon Islands were visible from the coast all day.  Many animals also responded to the absence of humans, changing their patterns and schedules, venturing into cities and neighborhoods at all hours.* This wasn’t just a local phenomenon, it was the same story throughout the world.

The memory cards were rich with images. They recorded more than the usual residents. Species that we’ve never seen before in the canyon were filmed. The animal’s schedules also changed—many, who before Covid-19 were typically recorded only late at night and early mornings, were filmed at all hours. Wild turkeys showed up and there was an increase in visits from coyote 09M, his mate and a couple of pups. Bobcats made a number of appearances regardless of the time of day. Although it proved to be a temporary re-wilding, it was refreshing to see.

People wanted out

The re-wilding was temporary. There’s only so long that humans can maintain their sanity restricted to their homes. At first, binge watching on Netflix, cleaning closets and socializing on Zoom help distract and eat up the hours, but after a couple months it took an emotional and psychological toll. Desperate to return to normalcy, people started driving again and they also searched for green places to walk. The local canyon trail was a little slice of wild almost in their back yards. Wanting to connect with nature, they over-crowded the trails.

Most everyone was respectful, keeping to the trails, enjoying nature and not tossing trash around. Many brought dogs with them—the majority of the dog people were responsible, keeping them leashed, on the trails and cleaning up after them. One conscientious walker unknowingly scooped up and bagged Coyote 09M’s poop—other predators may have appreciated the gesture. The cameras filmed it all.

The wildlife cams also caught walkers who let their dogs run off leash. Dogs were recorded trampling sensitive habitats and scaring the wildlife. The impact was immediately obvious—only a few wild animals were filmed.

Please be respectful and protective of the few wild areas that are left. Keep your dogs on leash—don’t let them run loose. It makes a big difference for the wildlife. Between our human developments and California’s wildfires, their habitats are dramatically shrinking.

The disasters keep coming

4 million acres have burned in California this year and it’s only the beginning of the fire season.  One of the fires, the CZU Lightning Complex Fire began the morning of August 16^th. It burned more than 86,500 acres in San Mateo and Santa Cruz Counties and was finally contained on September 22nd. Tragically, many animals perished while others fled for their lives—finding sanctuary in the remaining open spaces, near urban centers and in small patches of undeveloped wild spaces, including the little 90 acre canyon.

Because of the devastating fires that burned throughout the state, the quality of the air deteriorated. For weeks it hovered between hazardous and very unhealthy, sending people back into their homes where they could breathe. For a few days, the San Francisco Bay Area had the worse air quality in the world, some locations topping 500. During this time the cameras recorded an upsurge in animals and a decline in people. One lion was filmed frequently on all of my cameras. He hung around for about 3 weeks, having plenty to eat because the deer were abundant. Predators follow their food and venison is the mountain lion’s favorite meal. Note that this stunning lion is easy to distinguish because of the markings on his cheek.

Not surprisingly, very few coyotes were filmed while the lion favored the canyon. Although both are apex predators, lions are a threat to coyotes so they will avoid confrontations with the larger predator. The bobcats did stick around though; a number of them were filmed, including a little bobcat family. Originally there were 3 kittens in this family, unfortunately, only one survived.

During the last 8 months, the world turned upside down, and not in a good way. Every event, whether natural or manmade has repercussions on the environment and the eco-system—everything is impacted. Although, there are positive consequences, there is an over-abundance of negative ones.  It may seem out of our control, but there’s plenty we can do as individuals. Even though change needs to occur at government and corporate levels, we individuals can also make a difference. Actions as simple as picking up trash, keeping dogs on leashes in sensitive habitats, using renewable resources, recycling and planting trees are examples of a few activities that each of us can do that will help heal the earth.

*The Bay Area Puma Project is analyzing data they’ve collected of how wildlife responded the pandemic. Additionally they are tracking how the fires are impacting displaced animals and the disruption to animals in neighboring habitats.

Marilyn Krieger, CCBC, The Cat Coach LLC® and author of  Naughty No More! helps solve cat behavior challenges nationally and internationally through on site and remote consultations. Her fascination with cat behaviors began with household cats and quickly expanded to wild felids.

Marilyn enjoys educating people about cat behavior. She gives presentations throughout the United States as well as writes columns and articles for a variety of venues. Additionally Marilyn is a frequent guest on television and radio. She has appeared, along with her Bengals and Savannah Cat on Animal Planet, CBS,  ABC, KGO and others.

Join Marilyn for lively discussions about everything feline on her Facebook page

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Mountain lion

This large male puma is a regular visitor to the canyon–he shows up about every two to three months. This time he didn’t stick around very long.

He usually stays in the canyon for a few days after he’s killed a deer. Typically, mountain lions cache their meals, covering them with leaves and debris and then return to eat them over a period of a few days.

Not too long after our cameras filmed these videos, a lion was found on the freeway above the canyon. I worried that it was him–it wasn’t. Although I’m thankful, I’m also sad.

Coyote 09M

09M hasn’t been filmed for a few weeks, for that matter, no coyotes have been caught on camera. I’m glad to see he’s still around. I think he’s favoring the open space over the canyon now because there are more rabbits there.

Deer

Neat video of one of the resident does framed by a garden spider and web. A rabbit behind her caught her attention.

Bobcats

We continue to get some great footage of the local bobcats.

Additional Bay Area Puma Project cameras

I just signed on to monitor wildlife cameras in two more locations. Both places are rich in a variety of wildlife. Unlike the canyon trail, very few people are able to access these places—keys and codes are needed. These places are special—they are seldom visited by humans so the animals don’t have to adjust their schedules in order to avoid people.

Mountain lion

Nice picture of a mountain lion taking a stroll.

Fox

There are lots of foxes in both of the new locations.

Birds

There seems to be more turkeys around–every year I see more crossing the roads. From what I’ve read, they’re contributing to the demise of our local birds–they raid nests and eat the eggs.

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