Mountain lions, also known as pumas or cougars, are powerful and elusive predators found across the Americas. These solitary animals have secretive natures and vast individual territories, making accurately counting wild populations a complex challenge for wildlife biologists. Understanding their numbers often relies on scientific estimation rather than direct counting.
Understanding Arizona’s Mountain Lion Population
The Arizona Game and Fish Department (AZGFD) estimates the state’s mountain lion population at approximately 2,500 to 3,000 individuals. Obtaining an exact count is impractical due to their elusive behavior, low population density, and the extensive, rugged terrain they inhabit. Mountain lions are widely distributed across Arizona, and the population is considered stable to increasing in many areas. The AZGFD utilizes research, monitoring data, and harvest reports to derive these figures, to understand and manage this species.
How Scientists Estimate Mountain Lion Numbers
Scientists employ various methodologies to estimate mountain lion populations. One approach involves tracking and sign surveys, where researchers look for physical evidence such as paw prints or scat. Camera traps are also used, placing motion-activated cameras to capture images or videos, which helps monitor their presence and estimate population sizes. Genetic analysis contributes significantly to these efforts, as DNA can be extracted from collected hair or scat samples to identify individual animals and infer population size.
Another technique involves radio or GPS collaring, where individual mountain lions are fitted with tracking devices. This allows researchers to monitor their movements, understand territory sizes, and assess survival rates, providing data crucial for population models. These diverse methods provide data points that help create scientific models for population estimation. The AZGFD, for instance, uses a technique that analyzes age-at-harvest data, which is a cost-effective method used by several states for managing big game species.
Where Mountain Lions Live in Arizona
Mountain lions are adaptable predators found across a wide range of habitats in Arizona. Their distribution is largely influenced by the availability of prey, primarily deer, which are their principal food source. They prefer rugged, mountainous terrain with dense cover, such such as forested mountains, canyons, and areas with steep slopes. This preference helps them stalk prey and find concealment.
Mountain lions can be found from the Sonoran Desert canyons to the higher elevation forests, essentially inhabiting all areas of Arizona except for the low desert around Yuma and highly urbanized metropolitan centers. Regions like the Coronado National Forest are known mountain lion habitats, characterized by arid desert, rocky canyons, and higher elevation forests. While they generally avoid human-dominated landscapes, they may be present in areas bordering wildlands, especially where prey is abundant.
Protecting Arizona’s Mountain Lions
Mountain lions in Arizona are managed as a game animal, and their conservation status is considered stable to increasing, not endangered or threatened. The Arizona Game and Fish Department is responsible for managing and conserving the state’s mountain lion population through regulated hunting, harvest monitoring, and research programs. Regulated hunting is a management tool, with specific zones having harvest thresholds to ensure sustainable populations. All harvested mountain lions must be reported and checked in at an AZGFD office, allowing data collection on age and sex, which informs population monitoring.
Challenges for mountain lion conservation include habitat fragmentation due to increasing development and potential human-wildlife conflicts. Movement corridors between backcountry habitats are important to maintain genetic diversity. Research and monitoring programs, including the use of GPS data, help identify habitat areas and corridors that require protection.