California cougars have a range of up to 100 miles. About 75 live near Silicon Valley.
Graduate students from Chris Wilmer’s Puma Project Lab at UC Santa Cruz collar the cats and equip them with transmitters to track their locations.
About 75 mountain lions live in San Mateo, Santa Clara and Santa Cruz counties.
A male’s territory can range from 50 to 100 miles and a female’s from 12 to 50 miles.
Mountain lions are a specially protected species, making mountain lion hunting illegal in California.
The researchers have lost two collared males due to depredation permits that allow owners who have lost pets and animals, such as goats, to kill mountain lions.
In 2009, California gave out 93 permits, and 42 lions were killed.
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