IUCN / SSC Cat Specialist Group - Digital Cat Library |
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| Villepique, J.T.; Pirece, B.M.; Bleich, V.C.; Boyer, R.T. | |
| Diet of cougars (_Puma concolor_) following a decline in a population of mule deer (_Odocoileus hemionus_): Lack of evidence for switching prey | |
| 2011 The Southwestern Naturalist (56): 187-192 | |
We investigated diet of cougars (_Puma concolor_) in the eastern Sierra Nevada, California, following a decline in the population of mule deer (_Odocoileus hemionus_). Mule deer declined 84% from 1985 to 1991, a period concurrent with declines in bighorn sheep (_Ovis canadensis_ _sierrae_; an endangered taxon). An index to numbers of cougars lagged behind those declines, with a reduction of ca. 50% during 1992-1996. We determined diet of cougars by analysis of fecal samples collected during 1991-1995, when the population of mule deer was ,25% of its former size. Mule deer was in 79% of 178 feces in winter and 58% of 74 feces in summer. Although most (69%) fecal samples in winter were,5 km from, or within (25%) winter range of bighorn sheep, none contained evidence of bighorn sheep. One fecal sample in summer contained remains of bighorn sheep, indicating that those ungulates were not an important component of the diet during our investigation. |
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