Jackson Hole News Reported 1st: Hunters, starvation and predators are the gravest threats to subadult mountain lions trying to eke out a living in Jackson Hole, researchers say. Far down the list of causes of mortality is the porcupine. But though it’s a rarity, death by rodent is confirmed for one research cat, F99, that was tracked by the Teton Cougar Project of Kelly.
In the days before Christmas an otherwise healthy F99 was discovered dead about a month after the diminutive 40-pound female lion made her first known kill of a porcupine.
A necropsy revealed quills in the 16-month-old’s chest cavity and lungs, one of which had completely failed, Teton Cougar Project leader Mark Elbroch wrote on a blog posted to NationalGeographic.com.
“Certainly, the two species aren’t matched for a fair fight — mountain lions are stealthy predators that make their living by killing and consuming animals, and porcupines are waddling prey that make their living by chewing bulbs, fungi, foliage and inner bark,” Elbroch wrote. “Yet, somehow, porcupines sometimes win.”
This porcupine also lost. It was quickly dispatched by the cat, Elbroch wrote, though not before fatally injuring her.
While not common, lions killed by porcupines have been recorded by the Cougar Project, which studies a 900-square-mile area north and east of Jackson. A 15-month-old lion known as M34 was killed in the study area in its first known encounter with a porcupine, Elbroch wrote.
“We found his body curled up at the base of a tree — his underside, chest, neck and one side of his face were completely covered in deeply embedded quills,” the biologist wrote.
Continue reading this article at this LINK.…
—–
Join ODU Magazine on Facebook here at this LINK…..
Join ODU Magazine on our Twitter fishing site here at this LINK…..
Join ODU Magazine on our Twitter hunting site here at this LINK…..
.