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South Dakota State University

Ecology and Evolutionary Biology

Cougar

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Full-Text Articles in Life Sciences

Mountain Lion (Puma Concolor) Population Characteristics And Resource Selection In The North Dakota Badlands, Randy D. Johnson Jan 2017

Mountain Lion (Puma Concolor) Population Characteristics And Resource Selection In The North Dakota Badlands, Randy D. Johnson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Mountain lions (Puma concolor) have significant ecological impacts on the ecosystems they inhabit, leading to both biological and social ramifications. Yet, due to the relatively recent natural recolonization by mountain lions of the Little Missouri Badlands Region of western North Dakota, detailed data regarding many aspects of this population have been lacking. Therefore, we studied mountain lions occupying the Badlands Region to improve our understanding of mountain lion population ecology, resource selection, and occurrence in North Dakota. Our objectives were to: 1) improve the accuracy of home range size, subadult movement, and survival estimates of mountain lions in …


Dispersal Movements Of Subadult Cougars From The Black Hills: The Notions Of Range Expansion And Recolonization, D. J. Thompson, J. A. Jenks Oct 2010

Dispersal Movements Of Subadult Cougars From The Black Hills: The Notions Of Range Expansion And Recolonization, D. J. Thompson, J. A. Jenks

Natural Resource Management Faculty Publications

Dispersal plays a vital role in cougar (Puma concolor) population ecology, creating genetic viability and maintaining gene flow between populations. The naturally recolonized cougar population in the Black Hills is at the edge of the species’ range in North America and completely surrounded by the grasslands of the Northern Great Plains. Our objective was to document dispersal movements and possible range expansion of subadult cougars captured within the Black Hills ecosystem of southwestern South Dakota and eastern Wyoming. Twenty-four (n ¼ 14 males, n ¼ 10 females) subadult cougars were captured in the Black Hills. Independence of cougars from females …