Ventura County, California - A litter of mountain lions has been found in California's Simi Hills near the 101 freeway. These three fur babies are a good sign for the stressed cougar population in the area!
The National Park Service (NPS) decided to investigate after one of the many mountain lions they track with GPS collars was spending a lot of time in one spot.
The mountain lion called P-113 appeared to have stopped roaming. That could only mean one thing: kittens!
Rangers hiked up and discovered the three-week-old mountain lion kittens in the Simi Hills last week, as VC star first reported.
Rangers have been studying P-113 since she was born and tagged as a cub in 2023.
"It has been super interesting following her," Jeff Sikich, a wildlife biologist with the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area, told VC Star.
A few months ago, the now three-and-a-half-year-old P-113 was traveling with a male mountain lion known as P-124. Cougars have a gestation period of about 90 days.
Rangers found one female and two male kittens. They are P-113's first litter and have been dubbed P-141, P-142, and P-143.
NPS Rangers have been monitoring and studying the small cougar population in the Santa Monicas since 2002. Wildlife biologists are interested in seeing how cougars deal with and adapt to living in an increasingly urban area.
Southern California's mountain lion population has been boxed in by development and highways, which has led to low genetic diversity and cougars killing each other. California is set to open its 101 wildlife crossing later this year.
The animal crossing could help boost genetic diversity if even one cougar crosses south of the 101 freeway, per Sikich.