We are conducting surveys, monitoring, and research on cougars (puma, mountain lion) on the Ladder Ranch in south-central New Mexico. Here, cougars are of particular interest given their effects on state-endangered desert bighorn sheep and other valuable big game. These projects are also resources for training and education, most notably through the Cougar Field Workshop.

Monday, December 06, 2010

LM1 is Back!!! - The above photo shows the first evidence of LM1 in the study area since the summer of 2009. LM1 was the first male collared for the project by Harley Shaw and Orville Fletcher in March 2008. He was re-collared in April 2009 by Matthew McCollister. Unfortunately his collar fell off unexpectedly in May of 2009 and since then the last evidence we had of him was a photo taken by the camera array after his collar had already fallen off, but he was still ear- tagged (below).
So far we've picked up 3 separate photos of LM1 at 2 different camera locations all along the Animas Creek drainage since he has revisited the study area. The two below photos are taken of his RIGHT side, so it is difficult to detect his unique red ear tag in his LEFT ear, but if you zoom into the photos you can barely see a hint of red color on his far ear. If LM1 remains in the study area we will hopefully continue to capture him with cameras, and if we're lucky maybe he'll stick around to be recaptured during our next collaring efforts.


Labels:

0 Comments:

Post a Comment

<< Home