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ydpl8s
Trad climber
Santa Monica, California
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I saw a Canadian Lynx (not a bobcat, I know the difference) up in the Ralston Buttes area between Golden and Boulder. We were about 20 yds apart, just stared each other down for about 5 min. and then it bounded off. Weird though, bounding and running through brush and I couldn't hear a single sound, the ultimate stalker.
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bringmedeath
climber
la la land
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That is really rare, I would be way stoked to see a lynx. I saw a bobcat a couple weeks ago haven't seen a cougar in a while.
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jstan
climber
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Five travelling in a pack. That is supposed to be unheard of. Animals at the top of the food chain hunt solo.
Do you suppose cougars are adapting to a new kind of more dangerous prey.
We may well be at a transition point.
Wake up!
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Anne Yeagle
climber
utah
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It's been about 3 weeks now.
I left the house in the dark and decided to do my usual run up City Creek Canyon here in Utah. It is small canyon that is blocked off to cars years round. I thought I would run up the road instead of the trail on the side since it was still rather dark. I saw a few people out in the neighborhood, but no one was past the gate to the canyon.
I was about 2/3 mile up when I heard some rustling in front of me on the hillside. I am accustomed to seeing deer early in the morning so I said my usual "good morning, sorry for disturbing you"---very sweetly I might say.
I saw one figure run up the hill (this is all about 50 feet from me at this point), but the other figure stays there. I run past (now 15 feet away). I notice something kind of weird (you must realize that it is just barely getting light) and turn around just in time to see a cougar come running (not full speed, I guess jogging) towards me. Welllllllll.
I stop and put my arms up above my head. It keeps coming towards me so I start yelling. I think, "this is going to hurt". It stops, turns around, howls and walks back a few steps. It then turns towards me again and howls louder and then starts running at me again. So I start yelling at it too louder. (I have never put my arms down). this time it doesn't feel like it's going to stop, so for whatever reason, I decide to step forward aggressively and really make a hellish sound. It stops, and it seems pissed and is growling. This goes on 3 more times and I keep stepping towards it and yelling louder when it gets close. Each time I think it is going to leap right on me because it is only 10 feet away. It finally turns around and walks slowly away.
So there I was, and I wanted to go down, but didn't want to go past the place where the cougar was and I didn't know where the other one was. So I crossed the creek because I thought it wouldn't like the water, but soon realized it could easily jump across and I didn't like groveling in the snow. so I went back and started heading up the road, quietly talking to myself to try and find comfort because I knew that they might be stalking me. I knew I shouldn't let my guard down yet.finally a water plant worker came driving down the road and I literally stepped in front of his car so he would stop. I had him take me to the gate and ran home. i had so much adrenalin that I thought it would help. Besides, he was kind of laughing at me --silly little lady thought she saw a big kitty-- kind of guy and I wanted to get away from him.
when I got home I called a friend at work who gave me the police and wild life people numbers. I was worried the next person might not be so lucky.
(it was after the phone calls that I cried).
They ended up tracking the cat until 11 oclock that night and about 12 miles away. They were not going to hurt it, I was very clear when I talked to them that I felt I had invaded its home and they said they would just try to encourage it to go further up.
I had sore throat for days. It was a rather difficult to teach my 3 hour class that morning as one can imagine. But it was good to do something.
they now have signs at the entrance that say cougar siting. not quite accurate.
I've had several nightmares and am a bit jumpy out running--in full light.:)
I have been doing early morning runs up that canyon for over 20 years and have always wanted to see a cougar because I heard they have dens up high.
I'm over it.
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corniss chopper
Mountain climber
san jose, ca
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Anne - Wow. Very glad you were not breakfast for the cougar.
Looking off our balcony down towards the creek, 2 weeks ago, a
beautifully colored Bobcat snaked its way through the brush not
30 feet away.
It was thin. No winter coat at all.
The backs of its ears had neat stripes on them.
He paused and looked up at me with the those weird Bobcat eyes.
Them it zoomed away.
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Ghost
climber
A long way from where I started
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I would be way stoked to see a lynx
I've seen one near Whistler, but the best sighting I know was by Galen Rowell. He was in Alaska, and saw a lynx quite close. It seemed to be ignoring him, and he moved in closer and had time to get his camera out and get a really good shot. No telephoto, just a real lynx barely ten feet away.
He said he couldn't figure out what was going on until he looked where the lynx was looking and saw a rabbit. He said it was a weird three-way thing with him looking at the lynx, the lynx looking at the rabbit and the rabbit looking at him. He eventually figured out that the lynx knew exactly what was going on -- that it was letting him get close because he was distracting the rabbit.
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Jaybro
Social climber
Wolf City, Wyoming
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Yow, Anne! That was way more involved then I heard the first time around!
Thanks for sharing that.
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zeta
Trad climber
Berkeley
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man there are some terrifying encounters some of you have had!
I can't imagine how scary it must feel to yell/shout/wave your arms/even approach the mtn. lion, only to have the mtn. lion not move away at all...and hold it's ground. Talk about being aggressive!
ann, glad you are safe! maybe it's time to find a running partner?
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TripL7
Trad climber
san diego
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pdx!
Awesome photo!
Looks like the big cat in the middle made eye contact with the photographer.
I was once hiking up to the Wheeler Crest and crossed paths with a Mt. Lion coming down a deer path. We locked eye's and just peered at each other for what seemed like thirty seconds, but I am sure it was much less. Finally I glanced away for a fraction of a second and it was gone. I skirted the tree line and stayed out in the open, avoiding any sudden attack.
I once had a similar encounter with a deer in the same area, and it also became transfixed on my eyes and vanished when I momentarily diverted my eyes.
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Branscomb
Trad climber
Lander, WY
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Mar 11, 2010 - 10:35am PT
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My Father talks about when they were kids in Branscomb, CA in the 1930s (pretty tough time). He and his older brother would go out to hunt for 2-3 days at a time. Several times they had a cougar stalking them. They had to sleep up in a tree at night while the damned thing pawed around the base, growling. He's a pretty astute outdoorsman in the best trad sense. I mean, that guy can start a fire in water. Anyway, he says he has a fifth sense about when mountain lions are nearby. There's one that roams in and out around their house in Placerville and he always seems to know when it's around and sure enough, go looking around and you can find sign.
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JuanDeFuca
Big Wall climber
Peenemunde
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Mar 11, 2010 - 11:22am PT
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When I was 21 I had a 40 year old cougar take me. I still have the scars.
Juan
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em kn0t
Trad climber
isle of wyde
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Mar 11, 2010 - 11:49am PT
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Strength, courage, beauty, intelligence, and HUGE cajones. Anne, you're one awesome lady. I'm inspired by how you took action to save yourself, stepped toward the danger, and stayed strong. And that you can still have the perspective that you were treading in the cougar's territory.
So very, very glad you're here to tell us the story.
Namaste
PS, "bringmedeath"
You should be stoked if you see one! Seeing wild cats in the wild is the making for a wonderful day. Don't see why people think it's so scary to see a cougar. Just take the time to enjoy the experience.
You might want to re-read out loud what Anne said her first thought was: "This is going to hurt." Then imagine yourself alone in the dark (remember, you're small and slender, you have no protective clothing or weapon and you weigh about 92 lbs soaking wet) and try saying it this way (as a mutual friend first relayed the event right after it happened): "This is REALLY gonna hurt!" Maybe that would help you imagine why it's so scary??
Edit later: oops bringmedeath, I need to apologize for suggesting you were insensitive to Anne's story. Checking back, I see your post preceded Anne's, so was not in any way trivializing it.
"Seeing" a wild cat from a safe distance is sure lots different than "seeing" one about to attack you.
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Dr.Sprock
Boulder climber
Sprocketville
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Mar 11, 2010 - 11:19pm PT
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yeah, thinking about it, and actually having it happen are so far apart,
this is what a friend told me the other day>
"Wear a hat with eyes on the back like they do for the Tigers in India. They
prefer to ambush from behind and dislocate your head with their back
feet or bite your spinal cord so if they think you are facing them it
might deter them. Maybe. Don't run. There was a cat stalking a Mt
Biker on the American River a few years ago--fast movement incites
they prey reflex. If they follow you or are seen at all, it's a bad
sign. They should never be seen so if they are, it means they have
lost their fear of humans and probably will evolve to attack. "
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nature
climber
Tucson, AZ
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Mar 11, 2010 - 11:22pm PT
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I'm still waiting. It seems only the twenty-something hotties hit on my these days.
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Dr.Sprock
Boulder climber
Sprocketville
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Mar 12, 2010 - 12:04am PT
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yikes, check this action>
"13 December. A 25-year-old water quality specialist, Susanne Groves, was attacked and mauled by a cougar on the Ute Mountain Ute Indian Reservation (near Cortez, Colorado). Standing in the shallows down river from the Grass River Bridge, she was taking water samples from the Mancos River. At about 10:30 a.m., (the RMN reported it was 1:30 p.m.) she heard something moving on the bank above. It was awhile before she looked up and saw a lion standing on top of the river's north bank. When they made eye contact, it came down the embankment toward her. Groves stayed in the water thinking the cat was just curious and would leave. As a precaution, perhaps, she began moving from her position nearer to the north bank back toward the south bank where her vehicle was parked.
Instead of leaving, the cat entered the foot deep water without hesitation. Groves now angled across the river toward the north bank, keeping her eyes fixed on the lions as it stared intently back. She yelled and threw water and ice chunks at it. Nothing seemed to deter the cougar which continued to parallel her path, always easing closer. The lion never showed its teeth, nor did it assume any threatening pose such as crouching. The pair went back and forth across the river several times. Then Groves slipped on some rocks and lost her balance. When she fell, the cougar reared up to attack. Groves stated she thought the animal was going for her neck but since she was falling, its jaws instead closed on the back of her head. She was (held) under water for perhaps 10 seconds. Then she must have broken free, as she jumped up from the water and began to run for the south bank.
Once at the bank, she may have slipped, as the next thing she remembered was being on her back and shoving her arm in front of her face in a defensive move. The lion bit down on her arm, but somehow Groves managed to get on top of the lion, her arm still in the animal's mouth. She no longer cared. She shoved her arm as far back in the cat's throat as she could, effectively pinning the animal down. She reached for the forceps (hemostats) dangling in reach from her fishing jacket and stabbed the lion in the eye. She reported her intent was to kill it by reaching the brain.
The lion only responded by growling and biting her arm even harder and by continuing its struggle to get out from under her. This battle continued about 5 minutes until the lion finally released her arm as Groves continued stabbing it. Groves continued to keep the animal pinned beneath her for another 5 minutes or so, as she did not want to give it the strength from gaining firm footing. The lion finally squirmed free, and Groves sprang to her feet to face her attacker. The lion just stood, still staring, so Groves lunged at it to test what the lion would do. It remained standing still, so Groves began backing downstream toward her truck again. About 20 yards away, the bank was less steep and she climbed it and then followed a cow path toward her truck.
Groves managed to get back to her truck and drive for help. Her injuries included five puncture wounds in her head and cuts and scratches on her arms and legs. She was treated at Southwest Memorial Hospital in Cortez and released the same day. Federal Animal Damage Control officers got permission from Ute tribal officals and then used dogs to quickly track and kill the lion. It appeared to be an old female, weighing only 63 pounds - about half the weight for a healthy adult female. Its teeth were worn, so it may have been unable to catch enough food.
Source: (Gary Gerhardt; Rocky Mountain News; 12/15/94) (Cougar Attacks - Encounters of the Worst Kind by Kathy Etling; The Lyons Press; Copyright 2001, Pages 135-136)"
holy crapola>
"28 April. At 2:00 p.m. experienced hiker and a Lakewood State Park ranger, Andy Peterson, 24, from Littleton, Colorado, was attacked in Roxborough State Park, Colorado, while hiking alone on the Carpenter Peak Trail 2 to 3 miles west of the visitor center. Decending the trail, the 5' 6", 130 pound hiker came upon a lion which may have been young, approximately 80 pounds, and female. It was chewing on a stick. At first he couldn't believe his luck. Then fear overtook his excitement. Peterson's legs shook as he eased quietly backwards, up the trail. He reached for the Swiss Army knife he always carried in his fanny pack and glanced at it. He was doubtful its two inch blade was much of a defense. In the brief time he looked away from the lion to size up his knife, the lion had begun slowly advancing, now with his eyes on Peterson's. (Click photo above to enlarge)
He made himself look as big and menacing as possible. He shouted. He waved his arms and jumped up and down. Instead of retreating as he expected, instantly, the cat was directly in front of him, seeming to size him up before attacking. It stared at him, its ears up and alert. So Peterson backed up. The lion advanced. Peterson kept shouting. The cat bared its teeth, squinted, and flared its nostrils. Then the ears flattened. The lion let out a growl and lept, paws extended. It slammed into his chest, causing them to tumble down the trail, ending up side by side in a rolled up mass of fur, claws, and blood. His blood! Peterson jumped up, and the lion missed him on a second leap. He careened down the path this time, trying to fend off the cat with the shirt that had been tied around his waist.
When the lion suddenly stopped, Peterson grasped his pack and swung it at the lion, missing it repeatedly as the lion easily dodged his swing. Once again he started backpedaling down the trail with the cougar staying inches away, evidently toying with him. When his escape path dropped down steeply through a series of boulder steps, he hurtled down, skipping over the boulders. The cougar launched into the air and tore into him just as he hit the ground. For a second time they rolled together, down the trail. When they landed, Peterson was on his knees, over the lion that was on its back. His head was in the lion's mouth, a large tooth an inch in front of his left eye. The lion's teeth were sunk into the top of his skull. Its jaws loosened slightly, then bit down a second time, searching for a firmer hold. Blood cascaded down over his face.
With his knife still in hand, he slashed at different angles, aiming at the lion's throat, but because of the lion's thick fur and skin, he failed to draw blood. Raising the knife high over the animal's head, he plunged it into the back of its neck. Once. Twice. Nothing, not even a whimper as the lion clawed his face. With an effort he was able to see that the knife's blade had closed on his index finger, cutting halfway through. Reaching over the cat's head with his other arm, he managed to pry the knife open, just as he also realized that his right hand was touching the cougar's right eye. With all the desperate force he could muster, he plunged his thumb into its eye, simultaneously sinking the knife into the cat's skull with his left hand. The lion shrieked, releasing its hold on his head and pulling its claws from his neck. The lion jumped backwards.
Peterson hurled a rock the size of a volley ball at the lion's side. Then, backing down the trail, out of sight from the lion, he turned and ran. Peterson was losing blood fast and was still almost three miles from the trailhead. Halfway down, where the trail went through a thick stand of ponderosa pine trees, in full stride, he glanced over his shoulder and believed he saw the lion eyeing him from a distant tree! Feeling futile and panicked, he managed to call on his legs to drive him even faster, and again he glanced over his shoulder. This time he saw a "divine vision" instead of the lion, and felt saved. He continued racing down the trail where he encountered a group of hikers. After 30 minutes with a mountain lion and 2½ miles at a dead run, his body shut down. When he heard the thunder of an approaching rescue chopper he knew his nightmare was over.
Jim Jones, an area wildlife manager for the Colorado Division of Wildlife, was quoted in the newspaper as saying that the lion probably wasn't driven away by the hiker's action, but instead "just lost interest", since lions are used to receiving wounds from their prey. Later he was quoted in a magazine as saying that mountain lions have been known to retreat from prey that fight back.
The lion was baited and hunted but was never found. The residents in the very nearby and "upscale" Roxborough Park suburb outspokenly rooted for the lion, as they didn't want even an attacking lion shot. About 9 months later in Lakewood, Colorado, (an established Denver suburb) about 15 miles away from where Peterson was attacked, artist Joe Beckner spotted a mountain lion in the ponderosa pine beside his barbecue grill. He called 911 only after he carefully studied the lion since he wanted to capture it in a watercolor later. It was missing its right eye. The police tranquilized and moved it.
Hospitalized in fair and stable condition, Peterson received several dozen stitches to his face, neck, upper chest, both shoulders, and right leg. He set a record at Swedish Hospital in Englewood, Colorado by requiring 70 staples to close his head wounds. The encounter with the mountain lion has divided Peterson's life into pre- and post-attack. He used to be an avid solo hiker; now, he rarely hikes, and never alone. Even when walking to his car at night from a shopping mall or supermarket, Peterson looks over his shoulder. He has nightmares. But because of his "vision" while losing blood and running toward safety, Peterson also perceives a divine purpose behind his attack. Not formerly a practicing Christian, he was babtized 2.5 months after the attack. The near-death experience prompted him to reconcile with his father and led him to change careers. Peterson had been studying for a degree in park management; now he is an inspirational speaker - bringing the story of his attack and his vision to churches and youth groups. On May 11, 1999, he appeared on Oprah. Sources: (Denver Post; 05/01/98, B-01; 05/06/98, B-03) (Andy Peterson's Own Online Account; 1998) (The Boston Globe Magazine; Wild in the suburbs; By David Baron; 08/22/1999) (New Man Magazine Online; Attacked!; by By Rhonda Sholar; date unknown) (Douglas County News-Press; Man survives attack by mountain lion; By Mike Colias; 05/06/1998)
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Dr.Sprock
Boulder climber
Sprocketville
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Mar 12, 2010 - 12:37am PT
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ok, this seems like the most logical advice on the topic>
" I am a game ranger from Africa and have spent many years tracking large game and guiding guests on foot through the African wilderness. I have worked also one-on-one rehabilitating a puma (cougar) in Bolivia.
I am now in San Francisco and looking forward to enjoying your splendid trails in the Bay Area.
That these large predators still exist in this area says a lot for the state of the natural system and that is a tremendous compliment to you Bay Area residents for living in harmony and respect with your nature.
I will just add a little to the post and hope it might be useful to those that are reading it. The first thing to remember is that we are not natural prey to these animals. All the big cats regard us as the formidable predator that we are. It is in the interests of their survival to avoid us (which is why you don't see them often). Big cat attacks occur almost exclusively in situations where the cat feels it has to fight to defend itself, or its own. Exceptions to that can occur if an animal is starving and desperate, usually by way of debilitating injury (can't catch its normal prey and therefore starts to take greater risks with what it can get close to). The only time I have witnessed this first hand after years of walking and driving in the African wilderness, was a lioness with three legs (had been caught in a snare, lost a leg (probably from eventually gnawing it off to escape the snare)). She subsequently battled to catch prey and started to spend time closer and closer to human areas as she got more and more emaciated. (Interestingly I actually watched her, on three legs, rush and kill a bush-pig). Man eaters are another story which I won't go into with this post, but it is a very rare situation.
If you come across a potentially threatening animal, like a previous poster mentioned, never run. The mind-set to remember is that this animal sees you as a threat, not prey. If it seems intent on engaging with you, hissing and snarling, understand that more than likely it feels trapped, unable to escape because it is cornered, or perhaps because it is injured and therefore insecure about its ability to flee from you (and jumpy just as we are when we are sick or vulnerable). You might also be standing in the direct line to its cubs who may be close by. Either way it is looking for escape or reprise to the situation and is summing up whether there is any other option other than engaging with you. It would prefer not to get into a fight with you as it has the utmost respect for your abilities as the top predator.
Do not try to chase it off by intimidating it (throwing stones or mock rushing), as this attack on the animal will more than likely set off its offensive defence, against which you have little chance. Let it know that you are the proud predator that you are by standing tall. Cowering or running will give it an easy solution to removing the threat. Communication with an animal, just like with humans, is a lot about body language, so stand for what you mean, you mean no harm, but you are not an easy target. It is not much different than getting into an energised conflict with a human. You are trying to read what the other is about. Take note of the situation - is it cornered up against rocks, trees, a river? Can you gradually edge in a direction that will give it room to escape? How can you reduce your threat on it without making yourself an easy target? Your movements may unsettle it so don't make starling movements, and if it does become unsettled, stay static for a moment, let it calm down before edging again.
Many will say that it is all well and good to read this theory, but a different story when you are facing an animal. But like any intimidating situation that we must face, an enormous strength and presence of mind becomes available to us – especially when our instinct to survive kicks in. You cannot predict that strength before you are asked to face a situation. But, if you can compliment the strength with an understanding of the situation, you chances of avoiding an attack are great. The danger is us insisting on being in the environment and staying oblivious or uneducated in it.
This was a key part of our training in the African bush. Early on in our training we were sent out alone without a riffle or any weapons to walk 250km’s (11days worth) of roads, fully aware of the presence and concentration of lions, leopards, wild dog, hyaena, elephants, buffalo and rhino, as smaller but infamous creatures like the honey-badgers. The idea was to open our eyes very wide, and notice how each of the creatures responds to the presence of a human. You learn a lot when you senses are that awake. In a nutshell, the lesson from that experience was every wild, unhabituated creature avoids the human being and will run from you given the chance.
In the reserves that I have worked in, threatening situations arise fairly often. We are often on foot intentionally tracking cats (or other potentially dangerous game) so that the vehicles with guests can drive in to view the animal. Not once has a riffle been fired or needed to be fired. Our attitude toward the riffle is that it is the absolute last resort, and by viewing it as such and retaining the presence of mind that in the situation the human is threatening the animal, I have never witnessed a riffle fired, or lost a college to an animal. I have however been in many situations and worked in partnership with an experienced Shangaan tracker who successfully conducted himself through over an hour of continual charges by a circle of eleven lions. Still no shot fired and no lives lost.
As for situations where animals have rushed at people before the animal was seen, in most circumstances this would occur where the person has unknowingly threatened a cornered/injured animal to a point that it feels it must engage to survive. The best defence against that is prevention - be aware of your surroundings.
Try to bear in mind how unlikely an event it is to ever even see one of these animals, let alone get into an encounter.
It is a privilege to be asked to be aware in the presence of nature, it opens our eyes and asks us to be in our surroundings with all our senses, and to know where we are. These animals exist in nature, your safety is more about understanding them than fearing them. And as a last note (because this post has run on far more than I intended), even with these highly remote possibilities, you are still far safer being in these wilderness areas than not being in them. The risks of our everyday life, on roads and around people are far greater, many times over.
Know the environments that you enter, that is the privilege of being in them. "
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adam d
climber
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Mar 12, 2010 - 01:11am PT
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Good passage there, and good advice. Do you have a reference for it you could pass on?
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hashbro
Trad climber
Mental Physics........
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Mar 12, 2010 - 01:40am PT
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> Cougar predation key to ecosystem health
http://oregonstate.edu/dept/ncs/photos.html#act
> CORVALLIS, Ore. -- The general disappearance of cougars from a portion of Zion National Park in the past 70 years has allowed deer populations to dramatically increase, leading to severe ecological damage, loss of cottonwood trees, eroding streambanks, and declining biodiversity.
> This "trophic cascade" of environmental degradation, all linked to the decline of a major predator, has been shown in a new study to affect a broad range of terrestrial and aquatic species, according to scientists from Oregon State University.
> The research was just published in the journal Biological Conservation - and, like recent studies outlining similar ecological ripple effects following the disappearance of wolves in the American West - may cause land managers to reconsider the importance of predatory species in how ecosystems function.
> The findings are consistent, researchers say, with predictions made more than half a century ago by the famed naturalist Aldo Leopold, often considered the father of wildlife ecology.
> "When park development caused cougar to begin leaving Zion Canyon in the 1930s, it allowed much higher levels of deer browsing," said Robert Beschta, an OSU professor emeritus of forest hydrology. "That set in motion a long cascade of changes that resulted in the loss of most cottonwoods along the streambanks and heavy bank erosion."
> "But the end result isn't just loss of trees," he said. "It's the decline or disappearance of shrubs, wetland plants, amphibians, lizards, wildflowers, and even butterflies."
> Until recently, ecologists had a poor understanding of how the loss of an important predator, such as wolves or cougar, could affect such a broad range of other plant and animal species. But the evidence is now accumulating that primary predators not only have direct effects in influencing the population sizes of native grazing animals such as deer and elk - they also have indirect effects in changing their foraging behavior, in what has been called "the ecology of fear."
> That phenomenon, the scientists say, has been shown as vividly in Zion National Park as any other location they have ever studied.
> In Zion Canyon, which since the early 1900s has been a popular tourist attraction, cougars are virtually absent, mostly just scared off by the huge influx of human visitors. With their natural enemy gone, growing and ravenous deer populations ate young cottonwood trees almost as quickly as they sprouted, robbing streambanks of shade and erosion protection.
> As a result, floodplains began to erode away. Other types of vegetation and the animal species dependent on them suffered. And unless something is done, cottonwoods in Zion Canyon may ultimately disappear in areas accessible to deer, the researchers said.
> By contrast, a nearby roadless watershed has similar native ecology but is sufficiently remote that it still has an intact cougar population and far fewer mule deer. In contrast to Zion Canyon, streambanks in this watershed have nearly 50 times more young cottonwood trees as well as thriving populations of flowers, lizards, butterflies, and several species of water-loving plants that help stabilize stream banks, provide food-web support, and protect floodplains for use by many other animal species.
> "The documentation of species abundance that we have in this study is very compelling," said William Ripple, a professor in the OSU Department of Forest Resources and lead author on the study. Researchers did a systematic survey of channel dimensions, streambank condition, vegetation and species presence along each study site.
> "These two canyons, almost side by side, have a similar climate and their ecosystems should be quite similar," Ripple said. "But instead they are very different, and we hypothesize that the long-term lack of cottonwood recruitment associated with stream-side areas in Zion Canyon indicates the effects of low cougar and high deer densities over many decades.
> "It's a great research setting and a great opportunity to assess the potential importance of a key predator," he said. "We hope to conduct additional research in Zion National Park to further explore the findings of this initial study."
> It's important to remember, the researchers said, that the ultimate driver behind all of these changes is humans - in the case of Zion Canyon, simply by their presence. That canyon receives nearly three million human visitors a year, the adjacent North Creek a stray handful of hikers. Cougars in Zion Canyon were not intentionally killed or removed, they just left due to the increased presence of humans.
> As findings such as this - the way cougars affect deer and wolves affect elk - continue to mount, land managers may have to acknowledge the potentially enormous impact of these grazing animals on other ecosystem processes, scientists say. This could open the way to new management options once the role of herbivory by deer, elk, or other grazing animals is more fully understood.
> In systems with wild ungulates, the sustainability of riparian habitats and biodiversity may require both predation on these herbivores as well as the fear of predation to further affect their behavior, the researchers concluded.
> Ripple and Beschta considered other factors that may have played a role in loss of cottonwood trees in Zion Canyon, such as climate fluctuations or human interventions to stream channels, but concluded that those impacts could not have caused the enormous loss of trees and associated impacts to other biota that were found in the canyon.
> The findings of this study may be relevant to other ecosystems in the U.S. and around the world where key predators have been removed, the researchers said, and high populations of native herbivores such as deer or elk - or domestic grazers such as cattle or sheep - affect native biodiversity.
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ß Î Ø T Ç H
climber
. . . not !
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Mar 12, 2010 - 01:45am PT
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"Cougar" is one of those new viral words .
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aguacaliente
climber
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Mar 12, 2010 - 02:47am PT
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I don't want to hear any stories about cougars and viruses.
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