Sul Ross State University

Modeling Mountain Lion Use of Habitat and Prey on South Texas Rangelands

by R. Bill Adams and Louis A. Harveson

To approach holistic ecosystem management, natural resource professionals and landowners in South Texas require knowledge pertaining to mountain lion (Puma concolor) use of habitats and prey.

We studied habitat use, cache site characteristics and kill rates by mountain lions in southern Texas and created models to predict annual mountain lion occurrence and annual prey loss to mountain lions on individual South Texas ranches.

Data were collected on a population of mountain lions in South Texas during a 15-month period from January 1999 to August 2001. Data were collected from eight male and four female radio-collared mountain lions.

Mountain lions typically preferred riparian habitats more than upland habitats. Mountain lion habitat selection indices for river, creek, drainage and upland habitats were 5.28, 0.97, 1.17 and 0.46, respectively.

Actual mountain lion cache sites exhibited higher percentages of canopy cover (P = 0.018) and visual obstruction at 5 m (P = 0.049) and 10 m (P = 0.014) than random sites.

One female mountain lion killed a large prey every 5.88 days, suggesting that kill rate data for male and female mountain lions in South Texas are comparable to kill rates reported in other studies. Modeling data suggested that annual mountain lion occurrence and annual prey loss to mountain lions can be predicted.

Data gathered from these models will allow resource managers and landowners to manage mountain lions and prey concurrently and effectively.

Cooperative funding by Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, Welder Wildlife Foundation, Summerlee Foundation, Albert Biedenharn III, Eddie knight, Rod Lewis and Sul Ross State University.