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7.27.11
Connecticut Mountain Lion
Walked From South Dakota
Connecticut Department of
Energy and Environmental Protection officials believe the
mountain lion killed by a car in Milford in June probably
traveled 1,500 miles from its birthplace in the Black Hills
of South Dakota before dying on the Wilbur Cross Parkway in
Connecticut, according to a report in the
Hartford Courant.
This mountain
lion's trip was the longest one documented for a mountain
lion and quite possibly the longest undertaken by a mammal
in North America, said DEEP wildlife biologist Paul Rego.
Young male
cougars often roam up to 100 miles in search of breeding
opportunities, open habitat and food resources, said Rego,
but this cat's journey was an anomaly, more than double the
longest previously documented journey of about 640 miles.
Genetic testing revealed that the big cat came from a wild
breeding population of about 250 mountain lions in the
southwest corner of South Dakota, the Black Hills area,
results released Tuesday afternoon revealed. No one knows
why the animal — a lean, 140-pound male between 2 and 4
years old — undertook a journey across the continent. But
its travels were documented through Minnesota and Wisconsin,
and biologists speculate that the cat then wandered through
southern Ontario and New York before reaching Connecticut.
To read more,
visit
http://www.courant.com/news/breaking/hc-mountain-lion-dna-20110726,0,3798831.story.
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