Females are also known to make a caterwauling sound to call potential mates and use clicking noises to communicate with their cubs. Like house cats and bobcats, mountain lions purr, but donвЂ™t roar. A single deer carcass might feed dozens of animals in addition to the mountain lion, including bobcats, coyotes, foxes, rodents, turkey vultures, and invertebrates.

A mountain lionвЂ™s kill also provides food for other animals. They reduce the deer population, culling unhealthy animals and preventing deer from over-foraging the plants that smaller animals depend on. By comparison, Edgewood Preserve is only one square mile, so usually these elusive cats are just passing through.ДЄs the only remaining apex predators (except for people) in our area, mountain lions are likely ecosystem engineers, playing many roles in our ecosystems. Females range approximately 40-80 square miles. Males can have a home range of approximately 100-150 square miles. The Santa Cruz Mountains are one of the few remaining habitats on the San Francisco Peninsula that can support these far-ranging animals. In the Bay Area, mountain lion territory is diminishing. Mountain lions can reside throughout North and South America as long as they have suitable cover and prey. In the second video, she chases turkey vultures away from the same food cache.Д¬heck out iNaturalist and Friends of EdgewoodвЂ™s wildlife images for more observations of mountain lions in Edgewood Park and Natural Preserve. In the first video, Mercury is moving a deer kill to a safe spot where she can feed while her kitten plays nearby. In July 2020, Friends of EdgewoodвЂ™s wildlife cameras caught these videos of a mountain lion, nicknamed Mercury, and her cub. When rare sightings are reported, San Mateo County Park rangers post warnings on nearby trails. Our wildlife cameras, which are set far off-trail, occasionally capture mountain lions feeding, raising cubs, or prowling through the woods. Mountain lions are cautious, typically avoiding people, and are even shy of recorded human voices, so it is very unlikely that you will encounter a mountain lion at Edgewood Preserve. Their tracks are also larger, about four inches across. Unlike coyote or dog tracks, mountain lion tracks usually donвЂ™t include toenail prints, the front two toes are offset from each other, and the pad has a pronounced вЂњMвЂќ shape. Coyotes have long, narrow noses and pointier ears than mountain lions. Bobcat tails are bobbed (about six inches long), compared to the much longer mountain lion tail, which is two to three feet long. В© FMoriДЄt Edgewood, mountain lions are often confused with bobcats or coyotes seen at a distance. Muddy tracks may be the only sign you see.

Mountain lion roar