DNA reveals different origins for Missouri mountain lions

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Four cougars seen in Missouri came from three states.

JEFFERSON CITY–DNA test results show that four mountain lions seen in Missouri last year came from three Western states, illustrating the species’ capacity for long-distance travel.

The Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC) confirmed 14 mountain-lion sightings in 2011. That was a sharp increase from the previous 16 years, when MDC was able to document only 12 cougar sightings.

Four of the 2011 sightings yielded hair or tissue samples adequate for DNA testing. Eleven Western states maintain databases of mountain-lion DNA. Comparing the genetic makeup of cougars found in Missouri enables biologists to learn if they came from one of these states.

DNA tests tied two young male cougars to the Black Hills area of South Dakota. One was shot by a raccoon hunter in Ray County in January 2011. A Texas County homeowner shot the other one in September.

DNA from the young male mountain lion killed by coyote hunters in Macon County in January 2011was traced to central Montana. The remaining cougar, which left a tuft of hair on a barbed-wire fence after crossing the road in front of a motorist in Oregon County, was related to mountain lions from Colorado. DNA showed the Oregon County cat also was a male.

“Large carnivores have big home ranges,” says Resource Scientist Jeff Beringer, “and males disperse long distances in search of females. It seems logical that the rate of dispersal would be greater when cats have repopulated available habitat in neighboring states, but there is also an innate drive to travel.”

2011 remains a puzzling aberration in Missouri’s mountain-lion history. The largest number of sightings documented by MDC in any previous year was two, in 2006 and 2010. MDC has confirmed two sightings so far this year.

“Increased public awareness and the growing popularity of trail cameras might account for part of the increase in sightings,” says Beringer, “but last year’s spike is hard to explain. What we now know for sure is that mountain lions are traveling a long way to get here.”

All wildlife is protected under the provisions of the Wildlife Code of Missouri. However, the Code provides for the taking of wildlife during prescribed hunting and trapping seasons and under other circumstances, such as when mountain lions are attacking or killing livestock or domestic animals or threatening human safety. MDC has not stocked mountain lions in Missouri and has no plans to do so.

MDC has established a Mountain Lion Response Team to gather mountain lion reports and investigate those for which there is physical evidence. You can report sightings by email to mountain.lion@mdc.mo.gov. For information about mountain lions in Missouri, visit mdc.mo.gov/node/4168 or  mdc.mo.gov/node/3505.

Chesterfield sighting confirmed to be a mountain lion

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This third recent confirmed report brings the total to 13 in Missouri since 1994.

JEFFERSON CITY Mo – The Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC) has confirmed a mountain lion sighting in western St. Louis County. Garrett Jensen, of Chesterfield, recently contacted MDC with photographs taken Jan. 12 from a trail camera showing a mountain lion in a wooded area.

“We have examined the photos and visited the location,” said Jeff Beringer, MDC resource scientist and member of the Department’s Mountain Lion Response Team. “While we did not find further evidence, such as tracks, we can confirm that the photos are of a mountain lion at the reported location. We don’t know anything else about this cat other than it was here.”

This is the third confirmed report of a mountain lion in Missouri since November.A landowner in Platte County contacted MDC in late November with photographs of a mountain lion in a tree on his property. On Jan. 2, a hunter shot a mountain lion while hunting raccoons in rural Ray County.

“The three reports over the past several months bring our total number of confirmed reports over the past 16 years to just 13,” said Rex Martensen. Martensen is on the Mountain Lion Response Team and supervises MDC’s wildlife damage control program. He has hunted mountain lions in Colorado and has worked with cougar biologists in South Dakota and New Mexico.

“We get hundreds of calls and emails from people who claim to have seen a mountain lion,” said Martensen. “When there is some type of evidence we investigate. More than 90 percent of these investigations turn out to be bobcats, house cats, or dogs. Our investigations involving claims of pets or livestock being attacked by mountain lions typically turn out to be the work of dogs. We have no documented cases in Missouri of mountain lions attacking livestock, people or pets.”

He added that mountain lions are nocturnal, secretive and generally avoid contact with humans.

“To date, we have no evidence to suggest that a breeding population of mountain lions exists in Missouri,” added Beringer, “In states where even small populations of these big cats exist, there is plenty of hard evidence. Florida, for example, has a population of only 100 mountain lions, yet several are killed  by automobiles each year.  They also have other clear, hard evidence like tracks, scat, and kill sites.”

Beringer explained that mountain lions seen in Missouri are probably young males roaming from other states in search of territory.

“Young males seek new territories at about 18 months of age,” explained Beringer. “With most births peaking in the spring, young males typically begin roaming in their second fall and winter. And it makes sense that these big cats could roam into Missouri from the west and use the Missouri River corridor to cross the state without being easily detected. These three recent confirmed reports, along with one in Callaway County in 2003 and one in Clay County in 2002, have all been pretty close to the Missouri River.”

Mountain lions (Puma concolor), also called cougars, panthers and pumas, were present in Missouri before pioneer settlement. The last documented Missouri mountain lion was killed in the Bootheel in 1927. The closest populations of mountain lions to Missouri are in South Dakota and a small population in northwest Nebraska.

Beringer said that MDC has never stocked or released mountain lions in Missouri and has no plans to do so. 

He added that there are 32 people in Missouri with permits to keep captive mountain lions and MDC maintains records of these animals’ DNA and identifying microchips.

Mountain lions are protected under the Wildlife Code of Missouri. The Code does allow the killing of any mountain lion attacking or killing livestock or domestic animals, or threatening human safety. The incident must be reported to the MDC immediately and the intact carcass, including the pelt, must be surrendered to the MDC within 24 hours. 

To report a sighting, physical evidence or other mountain-lion incident, contact a local MDC office or conservation agent, or email the Mountain Lion Response Team at mountain.lion@mdc.mo.gov.

For more information on mountain lions in Missouri, visitwww.MissouriConservation.org and search “mountain lion.”