After more than a year in Santa Monica Mountains a young puma known as "P-32" has decided to leave its nest in search of its sister and safer terrain. Only weeks after his sister made the trip across the 101 Freeway, the young male dashed across the Freeway near Thousand Oaks retreating into the Simi Hills earlier this month and now researchers with the National Park Service believe that "P-32" will have a better shot at a normal life out of the Santa Monica Mountains.
"This is good news for P-32" Ranger Kate Kuykendall says. "Being a young mountain lion, especially being a mountain lion in the Santa Monica Mountains, is not easy."
Although his sister P-33 made the trip almost a month before, P-32 is the first male studied to ever make a successful flee across the freeway. Though researchers believe that the transition is far from the norm with young pumas, they do believe that if more are able to make the transition that the fate of these beautiful big cats in southern California may continue in connecting habitats.
"It's a pretty big deal from our perspective" local wildlife ecologist in the Santa Monica Mountains, Seth Riley says. "It's just cool in that it's something we've seen very little and something so important for this population to do."
Why is life so hard in the Santa Monica Mountains?
Well, while things might be safer for the ladies amongst the group, as their reproductive health helps them maintain a spot within the mountains, the fate for young males is far bleaker, with fateful deaths around every corner. Nearly all young male mountain lions die prematurely within these mountains due to multiple threats. Humans pose a threat because even though they are not hunted within the area, they are often struck by vehicles. And those that survive close-encounters with cars must fight stronger adult males for their spot in the mountains.
