This is rather offbeat, but it does fit in with the “nature” and “puzzling things” portion of WUWT as indicated in the masthead.
These photos were emailed to me by the former Butte County Sheriff, Mick Grey, whom I have coffee with regularly. He’s had to deal with more than a few mountain lions in his career, and he’s never seen anything like this. Neither have I.
A woman who lives about 2-3 miles from Lake Oroville (about 25 miles southeast of my location) sent these pictures which were taken just 1 mile from Forbestown. A cow was found killed and the infrared trail cam (seen at left) was put in place to see what was preying on it.
[Correction: It seems both the Sheriff and I have been snookered by the person who emailed him. These photos are from Moses Coulee in central Washington. Thanks to WUWT reader Mark A. Story here:
http://www.wenatcheeworld.com/news/2011/feb/18/cougar-pride-wenatchee-hunter-catches-eight-big/
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2014261221_cougars18m.html
My apologies to readers, however, the photos below are legit and still worth a look.]
You can count up to eight cats in one of the pictures. Who’d ever heard of eight cougars at a kill site? They’re starting to act more like a pride of lions than the solitary cougars they normally are.
Pictures follow. Here kitty kitty.
Methinks some skullduggery is at foot! Seems strange that the “pride” appears focused away from the “kill” (we mostly see backs) I could be wrong, but I wonder if these are not a series of photos shot at the local zoo and several layers photoshopped together??? I would certainly like to see a photo of the scene showing placement of the game camera in relation to the kill, etc. Looks a bit like the dead walrus pics of a few months back! — i.e. “out of context”
I’ve hunted puma (mostly with a camera) for much of my six decades, and finding even two identifiable cat footprints in the same area in the wild is extremely rare! Even mated pairs seldom occupy the same hunting area!
I blame George Bush!
Still, I believe it has been shown by genetic analysis that domesticated dogs are descendants of the Middle Eastern subspecies of wolves, not of the jackals?
I know nothing of the mating habits of cougars, but, rather than a hunting pride, could this just be a gathering of males around a female in heat who downed the cow?
I have seen around 10 domestic toms clustered together around a female, “waiting their turn”, as it were.
Best cougar story, evah!
Watch at 1:48….Chicago police at work, vigilant as always!
Alexander already commented on his previous post as to inbreeding between wolves and coyotes, but since I had already searched for the article below-here is is. Appears the coyotes migrating into the New England area took a Canadian route resulting in wolve interactions and became larger than their southwestern USA forebearers. While the article speaks of the current Ohio coyote immigrants as being still smaller, we have seen both versions here in SE Ohio over the last 2-3 years.
Incidentally, for Joe, there are substantiated reports of a breeding pair of cougars in the Muskingham area of Ohio since 2008.
http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2010/02/17/for_coyotes_at_least_study_finds_new_englanders_a_special_breed/
bud says:
February 24, 2011 at 1:02 pm
“could this just be a gathering of males around a female in heat”
It is almost certainly two family groups or some similar combination of females with young.
Phil. says:
February 24, 2011 at 8:37 am
“Coyotes do interbreed with wolves and dogs, genetic evidence indicates that eastern coyotes have some wolf genes.”
Correct. But that reflects the fact that coyotes are not a native species of the east but only spread there recently. The key point is that wolves and dogs are the same species, different subspecies. So when you say “The wolf, dingo, dog, coyote, and golden jackal diverged relatively recently, around three to four million years ago” you are confusing things. Fossil evidence of domestic dogs is much more recent – 15,000 BP – but DNA evidence suggests domestication much earlier. Moreover, people kept domesticating wolves throughout history; the ‘dogs’ of the historic plains peoples were wolf-dogs.
The so-called ‘Red Wolf’ of the eastern U.S. is another very mixed up story.
The leading researcher on this is Robert K. Wayne and two key papers you can find via google are ‘Molecular evolution of the dog family’ and ‘Multiple and Ancient Origins of the Domestic Dog’ (I have them on paper so, sorry, no links handy).
Alexander Feht says:
February 24, 2011 at 12:51 pm
“Still, I believe it has been shown by genetic analysis that domesticated dogs are descendants of the Middle Eastern subspecies of wolves, not of the jackals?”
Right you are Alexander, except that there were multiple and ongoing domestications,
not just in the ME. The earliest dogs which can be distinguished by fossils actually come from China. Before agriculture created needs for specialized dogs, the best dog was just a wolf so those earlier dogs had no obvious physical differences.
Anyhow, please check out those two papers I noted and it will all make sense.
here a tad to the west of Anthony we had an amusing “here kitty kitty…” moment
http://occamsedge.blogspot.com/2009/02/someone-does-not-quite-get-it.html
A lot of posts here, including the most recent, keep referring to the supposed “killed cow.” Folks, if you read either of the articles linked, which give the REAL story, there was no killed cow. The great cougar congregation was just that, not scrapping over a cow they’d killed or anything along those lines. I have to say that while I don’t always click thru story links, in this case I’m a bit amazed that so many folks apparently haven’t, considering that Anthony struck out the ‘killed cow’ story as discovered to be false, and provided links to the actual story, the details of which weren’t in Anthony’s write-up.
So. No human livestock killed by cougars. No great cougar congregation dividing the spoils (forgive the pun!). Just a great cougar congregation, reason/cause unknown, but thankfully caught on camera because it’s pretty darned impressive to see!
As to the reticence of SW coyotes…. Several years ago, traveling out to the Yucca Mountain high level nuke waste repository, out in the middle of nowhere in the desert, we saw a coyote that was crossing the road. As soon as it saw our car it stopped and watched our car without the least sign of concern. I was told that folks used to feed them on the way to or from work, until the coyotes got aggressive – and it got dangerous for both employee’s and the coyotes. I’ve no idea if that was true, but it’s what I was told. Anyhow, folks said that the one we saw (still many miles from the work site), was probably looking at our car very wishfully, hoping for a handout – which fit its demeanor as best I could tell anyhow (one always has to have the ‘does it have rabies if it’s acting unafraid’ thought cross the mind, however). It was also a good bit larger and taller than I’d expected, but I was told it was typical for this area. On other trips out in the SW desert I’ve seen a few other coyotes too, but they were further off, too far for me to get a mental size comparison with the wishful roadside one…. and these ignored the car entirely even when I slowed to watch them go about their way for a few minutes, but then iirc they weren’t along the way to Yucca Mt. either and so probably had no previous food handout training to affect their behavior.
Meanwhile, in town (Las Vegas, where houses and buildings are all on postage stamp sized lots, walls all of 4 to 6 ft. apart, and because it’s surrounded by gov. lands, goes from dense population to rank desert without anything like the typical population dispersion/tail-off you get around most cities), there was a known coyote living on an undeveloped bit of land surrounded by houses and some of the few remaining horse farms with a few acres each – e.g., very developed area. The coyote had killed several dogs that lived in the area, and I was warned that I probably wanted to be certain that my mutt, who loved following/leading anywhere I rode, was NOT allowed to go if I was heading in that direction. My pup was incredibly athletic, tough, but all of 25 lbs – even so she’d tangled with a coon larger than she was (in Iowa) and miraculously came away without a scratch – then she stayed a few feet back from it but continued the chase…. and later I know of at least one extremely large ground hog that she killed in Virginia – plus the quite large rabid coon that she finally tackled when it went in the horse’s run in shed/barn after she’d been trying to chase it off for some time to protect me and my animals… not to mention that she loved to aggravate horses until they’d chase her (1200 lbs vs. 25 is quite a sight. Scared me to death but while I broke her of messing with anyone else’s horses, I never could get her to leave my own alone!!). Anyhow, even so I sure wouldn’t have wanted her to tangle with a coyote, especially if it managed to take her by surprise from the scrub as this one was known to do – and by then she had really gotten up there age wise too, in her mid-teens and a bit arthritic and she was a little bitty thing, after all.
In Las Vegas they’ve also either captured or killed several mountain lions that have come right into town – iirc, those were during years where there’d been bad droughts and they were likely driven into town because of scarce game/water in the desert – but one never knows, wildlife has proven very very capable of becoming accustomed to even dense human populations, suburban and rural areas, and taking up residence or hunting/visiting – often for quite some time before people even become aware of it.
Great story Anthony, particularly considering the correction & real story! Frankly all sorts of “known” things about various animals and their behavior keep being overturned. It wasn’t that long ago where it was “KNOWN BEYOND DOUBT” that ONLY humans used tools, and that was what separated us from the animals. What a joke considering what is now known!! Or ‘no animals have a sense or recognition of self, their responses are all instinctual,’ Or ‘fish don’t feel pain.’ Or any number of other things we humans were so certain of that have been turned upside down.
So…..It wouldn’t surprise me one bit if the solitary nature of cougars turns out to be just another ‘known’ that is overturned before long – or if it is just closely related females with their nearly grown most recent cubs. Either way, great story!
I wish I had commented on this thread yesterday but I had a bad flue and was in bed. The subject is one that I am a bit familiar with.
First on C. lupus x latrans: it does happen but is really pretty rare. Most reports, even in the literature, are erroneous. The confusion comes mostly from a misunderstanding of the relationship of what some are referring to as C.lycaon, the Eastern timber wolf, with C.lupus, the Grey wolf. It looks as if C. lycaon and C.rufus, the red wolf, are the same species that is more closely related the C. latrans then either is to C. lupus.
Here is a pretty good study on the subject, there are others but I am not on my home system so do not have access to links:
http://www.jstor.org/pss/1383781
The larger size of the eastern coyote populations is probably the result of phenotype variation due to the different environment. All of the northern subspecies of latrans are larger then their southern relatives, just as the southern subspecies of lupus are smaller then their northern relatives. Coyotes are very adaptable and quite variable even within a population.
As for puma exhibiting the behavior seen here, it has been suspected. Daughters will stay with their mothers for years and even when not hanging out, will often have overlapping ranges. Unfortunately, science knows a lot more about lions and tigers then about North American felines such as puma and jaguars. For some reason, unless the species can be used as political leverage, no money is spent on its research. OTH, the resent availability of automatic inferred cameras, has given science a window of things that have previously been hidden. As someone with a keen interest in carnivore biology, it is really an exciting time.
I think it is ‘viscous’ Tea Baggers trying to kill off itinerant populations.
Cougars have also been spotted several times in Iowa in the last few years. Mostly in the western part of the State. All unconfirmed until last year, when a hunter shot/killed one that was resting in a tree in central Iowa.
Al Gored
February 24, 2011 at 2:32 pm
Good stuff! Robert Waynes papers are a must read. I am trying to find links to them, and one by the insufferable David Mesh.
I disagree with the non-nativity of the coyote in the east. They probably ranged there before the grey wolf displaced them when the came to this continent. C.latrans is a lot older then C.lupus. Xiaoming Wang has a great paper on North American canine evolution. I have a pdf, but can’t seem to find a link.
Of the four ssp. of lupus thought to be the origin of the dog, two are now in a bit of a mess. The Indian sub-populations of C.l.pallipes and chanco might constitute a species separate from C.lupus. This sort of makes sence.
Al Gored says:
February 24, 2011 at 2:32 pm
Phil. says:
February 24, 2011 at 8:37 am
“Coyotes do interbreed with wolves and dogs, genetic evidence indicates that eastern coyotes have some wolf genes.”
Correct. But that reflects the fact that coyotes are not a native species of the east but only spread there recently. The key point is that wolves and dogs are the same species, different subspecies. So when you say “The wolf, dingo, dog, coyote, and golden jackal diverged relatively recently, around three to four million years ago” you are confusing things. Fossil evidence of domestic dogs is much more recent – 15,000 BP – but DNA evidence suggests domestication much earlier. Moreover, people kept domesticating wolves throughout history; the ‘dogs’ of the historic plains peoples were wolf-dogs.
The so-called ‘Red Wolf’ of the eastern U.S. is another very mixed up story.
The leading researcher on this is Robert K. Wayne and two key papers you can find via google are ‘Molecular evolution of the dog family’ and ‘Multiple and Ancient Origins of the Domestic Dog’ (I have them on paper so, sorry, no links handy).
The reference I cited was by Wayne:
http://wooferhouse.net/Links/MolecularEvolutionOfTheDogFamily/MolecularEvolutionOfTheDogFamily.htm
Nice story. It is interesting to read posts from enthusiasts and observers of US carnivores. It does seem as though, as a PP pointed out, there is a lot more to learn about them. I take it that means the science is not settled? These biologists really need to lift their game – climate science was settled in a couple of decades, and this lot have been fiddle-arsing around for hundreds of years now. 🙂
Anyway, interesting as they are in the abstract, carnivores are not my preferred neighbours. The well meaning re-introduction and protection of these around the world is starting to cause problems, such as urban foxes in the UK attacking pets and even people (small ones like children and babies being preferred). We have similar problems developing in northern Australia, with (protected) crocodiles getting bigger, bolder and more numerous. Shooting the odd ‘rogue’ does not begin to deal with the problem that is brewing there – a 14 year old kid was lost swimming in a waterhole only last week. I mean completely lost, as in no part of him has been found, or is expected to be.
Medium to large carnivores are fantastic in animal parks and on TV. People who have to live close to them tend to have a different perspective.
Additional sitings and trail camera photo’s of mountain lions/panthers/cougars (plus a few other intrepid furry carnivorous critters) at this link.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2424648/posts
In his post Alexander Feht said:
February 24, 2011 at 2:50 am
P.S. to commieBob: Coyotes cannot interbreed with wolves. Coyotes and wolves have different number of chromosome pairs.
======================
Then I guess this quote from Wikipedia on coyote-Wolf hybrids is in error?
“The wolf, dingo, dog, coyote, and golden jackal diverged relatively recently, around three to four million years ago, and all have 78 chromosomes arranged in 39 pairs. This allows them to hybridize freely (barring size or behavioral constraints) and produce fertile offspring. The side-striped jackal and black-backed jackal both have 74 chromosomes. Other members of the Canidae family, which diverged seven to ten million years ago, are less closely related to and cannot hybridize with the wolf-like canids; the red fox has 38 chromosomes, the raccoon dog has 42 chromosomes, the fennec fox has 64 chromosomes, and the African wild dog has 78 chromosomes.” See the entry at Canid Hybrids.
Phil. says:
February 24, 2011 at 6:22 pm
Thanks Phil. Now we all have a handy link to that paper, including me, as I just had it in paper form.
But, to repeat, when you say ““The wolf, dingo, dog, coyote, and golden jackal diverged relatively recently, around three to four million years ago” you are confusing things.”
But I think I see where this came from. That whole group, which includes all those species and subspecies, did diverge from the ‘fox’ line about that long ago. But I read your comment as meaning the species and subspecies that you mentioned diverged from each other that long ago. In that case I am confusing things, about what you meant, and sorry for that.
That said, isn’t it amazing that dogs, from poodles to Great Danes, are actually all recent descendants of gray wolves?
DesertYote says:
February 24, 2011 at 5:34 pm
Al Gored
February 24, 2011 at 2:32 pm
“Good stuff! Robert Waynes papers are a must read. I am trying to find links to them, and one by the insufferable David Mesh.”
I’m sure you can google them but Phil has just provided a handy link to one of them.
I think you must mean David Mech. He has had a long career. What do you find “insufferable” about him? He did some outstanding work but I have some real problems with some of his recent pronouncements, now that wolf conservation has become so rabidly politicized.
“I disagree with the non-nativity of the coyote in the east. They probably ranged there before the grey wolf displaced them when the came to this continent.”
That’s a good point. Since they were here far longer. I wasn’t thinking that far back. Maybe they were a more forest adapted species that long ago? But based on the historical record and the habitat it is clear they were not present in the east during any recent period.
And what really confuses things is ‘dogs’ which virtually all people had. I’m convinced that is what makes the red wolf so confusing. When early smallpox (ca. 1550-1600)wiped out millions of Native North Americans, what became of their dogs?
I have many, many questions about the supposed subspecies of wolves in North America, for many reasons. (And everything that was ever classified by Merriam. You know about him?) And now they are trying to invent utterly absurd ones, like the alleged ‘rain forest’ subspecies on the BC coast, for purely political purposes. Requires a high level of denial or ignorance about both history and wolf behavior to suggest that.
Anyhow, glad you are as interested in these things as I am. The more you look into this stuff, the more interesting it becomes.
in the eastern US people is another mysteryC.latrans is a lot older then C.lupus. Xiaoming Wang has a great paper on North American canine evolution. I have a pdf, but can’t seem to find a link.
Of the four ssp. of lupus thought to be the origin of the dog, two are now in a bit of a mess. The Indian sub-populations of C.l.pallipes and chanco might constitute a species separate from C.lupus. This sort of makes sence.
And about spotted owls being displaced…
DesertYote – Sorry, I forgot to delete some stuff at the bottom of my last post… it should end at “becomes.”
Smokey,
Just checked that link. That story has been brewing for a few years – quietly for obvious reasons. And they have been doing it quietly too as ‘tests.’ No doubt that the Barred Owl has rapidly expanded its population and does compete with their cousins but not so simple to fix. If they do eliminate BOs from an area, more will just move in. And in the meantime, because of habitat fragmentation in the Pacific NW, there are now more Great-horned Owls in what was once mostly Spotted owl habitat, and they prey on Spotted Owls. So, guess they’ll have to kill them too. So, to supposedly save the SO, they have killed the logging industry and will kill two other owl species. Not sure if they’ve figured out that they will need to kill Pine Martens too yet…
Back to BOs. Definitely not an AGW poster child. After getting as far west as BC by the 1940s, they have spread south. Didn’t they get the memo?
The pride gathering is fairly common behavior in the cats. At the zoo in Green Bay they have a whole cougar area and the cats get along fine with some handling.
We have a rapidly growing cougar population in WI, and especially in the northern forests where I live. The DNR is in denial, but I have seen 3 so far, including one near where I work on a whitewater river. That one was black, and I found it’s scat every morning most of the summer before actually seeing it. Apparently according to the experts, not only do we not have cougars here, melanism is out of the question. Three other locals have seen it too, including a hunting guide and the local cop.
Walking down to the river alone in dense wild country that I KNOW has a full sized 50+kg cougar that is regularly within a mile is not one of the favorite parts of my work. I always make a little noise, keep my eyes peeled sharp, including up, and wear non-natural colors like blue or red. If that doesn’t work out, there is always my little .32 auto with hot loads..
Cougars are a testament to evolution and quite possibly the ultimate predator. They can jump 20′ up and 40′ horizontal, and drag a full sized deer up into a tree. Their senses are amazingly keen. It is unlikely that you will see them coming in an attack.
Being quarry of a 50-75kg cougar is not beautiful or majestic, especially with the deer getting scarce. The settlers killed them off for a reason, and it took 100 years and a bounty. They are not easy to hunt. Seeing them in large numbers is not good.
Al Gored says:
February 24, 2011 at 8:34 pm
“I’m sure you can google them but Phil has just provided a handy link to one of them.”
Thanks Phil! I’ve still got a touch of the flu and gave up on trying to google … just to much noise to find the signal. Try looking for any paper by Xiaoming Wang, that is the Chinese version of John Smith!
“I think you must mean David Mech. He has had a long career. What do you find “insufferable” about him? He did some outstanding work but I have some real problems with some of his recent pronouncements, now that wolf conservation has become so rabidly politicized.”
You nailed it.
“And what really confuses things is ‘dogs’ which virtually all people had. I’m convinced that is what makes the red wolf so confusing. When early smallpox (ca. 1550-1600)wiped out millions of Native North Americans, what became of their dogs?”
Speaking of native American dogs, ever hear of the Carolina Dog?
“I have many, many questions about the supposed subspecies of wolves in North America, for many reasons. (And everything that was ever classified by Merriam. You know about him?) And now they are trying to invent utterly absurd ones, like the alleged ‘rain forest’ subspecies on the BC coast, for purely political purposes. Requires a high level of denial or ignorance about both history and wolf behavior to suggest that.”
You got that right. Does the concept of sub-species even make sense in an animal that can travel 500 KM in a week or that all of these subspecies would have evolved in a mere 15K years? The greenies want to turn every so called sub-population into a subspecies. It is really irritating.
Re: coyotes, jackals, wolves, and dogs.
There is a widespread confusion about what, exactly, is called “jackal.” One of four species of “jackal” (actually, a subspecies of the wolf) has the same amount of chromosomes as dogs, while three of the four species (true jackals) don’t. This confusion, and the fact that coyotes behave very much like jackals, led me to think that North American coyotes are akin to the true jackals that cannot interbreed with dogs.
The New World Encyclopedia gives this description of jackals (emphasis is mine):
“Jackal is the common name for Old World, coyote-like mammals in any of three species in the genus Canis of the family Canidae: Canis aureus (golden jackal), Canis adustus (side-striped jackal), and Canis mesomelas (black-backed jackal). These small to medium-sized canids, with long legs and curved canine teeth, are found in Africa, Asia, and southeastern Europe. The name jackal sometimes also is applied to a fourth canid species, Canis simensis, which may be known as the red jackal, Abyssinian wolf, red fox, or Ethiopian snub nosed raven. However, this species generally is considered closer to the wolf (also a member of the Canis genus) and is not considered in this article.”
Thus, true jackals don’t interbreed with wolves. Calling the Abyssinian wolf a “jackal” muddies the waters. (Russians are familiar only with the “Turkmen jackal,” which is a Central Asian variety of the Abyssinian wolf; there are reports that in the 1970s it was successfully crossed with dogs, including Siberian huskies.)