IUCN / SSC Cat Specialist Group - Digital Cat Library |
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| Bartnick, T.D.; Cuthill, M.; Craighead, D.; Quigley, H.B. | |
| Apparent adoption of orphaned cougars (_Puma concolor_) in Northwestern Wyoming | |
| 2014 Western North American Naturalist (74): 133-137 | |
Cougars (_Puma concolor_) are widely distributed throughout the western portion of North America and are generally described as solitary carnivores. Most cougar social interactions have been described as instances of parental care, intraspecific strife, or breeding. We report an apparent case of an adoption of orphaned juveniles in a wild cougar population. We used radiotelemetry and direct visual observations to document an adult female, her 3 dependent offspring, and 2 orphaned juvenile males physically interacting, sharing bed sites, and sharing kills in the late winter of 2007/2008. We consider the potential benefits and/or negative effects of these social interactions, and the role that relatedness and/or familiarity may play in the motivation for developing such associations. |
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