Big cats: stunning footage dispels myth mountain lions are solitary

Researchers are dispelling the myth that America’s mythical felines are solitary predators destined to only eat their prey alone. The latest episode of the BBC’s critically-acclaimed Big

CATS wildlife series shows the mountain lion — or panther, puma or cougar to use one of its many names — as far more social creature than once imagined. This clip reveals the dramatic moment

when a nine-year-old mature cat is happy to share her meal of a recently slain deer with another female mountain lion. The footage also shows the incredible lengths scientists are going to

delve into mountain lion ecology, beginning by fitting radio collars to their beautiful blue-eyed kittens. Technical advances, such as using GPS trackers and remote cameras, is allowing

scientists like Dr Mark Elbroch to piece together the cat’s social life in the Teton Mountains of Wyoming, with surprising results. He told the camera: “I live mountain lions… I track them.

I watch videos of them. I go to sleep at night and dream about them.” Yet for all his expert knowledge about the big cats, there are still surprises to be discovered, especially about their

social lives. In one scene, Dr Elbroch points to camera trap video showing a nine year old female being followed by a younger animal.  Hissing and cuffing appear to be the prelude for a

dramatic cat fight, but what happened next is remarkable. Describing the scene, he said: “She’s doing mild hissing and, in the beginning, we thought it was the pre-runner to violence. 

"No, the hissing seems pretty normal now that we have seen it over and over again.  "So what happened next? They spent two days together and this is what they did…" Showing

the camera trap scene, Dr Elbroch said: "They spent two days together.  "This what they did. They shared a meal. It blew me away…" While researchers working in Wyoming will

help conserve and protect one of America’s most iconic creatures in its western range, the cougar has suffered a tragic demise to the east. Today sees the Eastern cougar, which historically

hunted down white-tailed deer from Michigan to South Carolina declared officially extinct. The subspecies – with its scientific name of Puma concolor cougar – has been removed from the US

list of endangered species after no confirmed sightings for eight decades. Historically, it once roamed every state of east of the Mississippi but, by 1900, systematic hunting and trapping

had it wiped it off the landscape. In 2011, the US Fish and Wildlife Service launched a review into the status of the mountain lion’s genetic cousin but concluded four years later it was

beyond recovery. Conservation groups believe removal of the Eastern cougar from the endangered species list clears the way for states such as New York – where the Adirondack Mountains

contain prime habitat – to re-establish a mountain lion presence with animals imported from burgeoning populations in the West.  Michael Robinson, of the Center for Biological Diversity:

"We need large carnivores like cougars, which would curb deer overpopulation and tick-borne diseases that threaten human health, so we hope Eastern and Midwestern states will

reintroduce them.” Big Cats: BBC One, Thursday, January 25, 8pm.