Highways prevent pumas from reclaiming their eastern U.S. range: Study

[Pantheraman]

"Pumas are unlikely to recolonize much of their historical range in the eastern U.S., a new study finds. It’s not a lack of habitat or food keeping out the pumas, also known as cougars or mountain lions. It’s the highways."

"Researchers used a model to predict where pumas might expand their range in North America this century. They used observational data on movement, population and survival of the animals to predict the areas in which the carnivores would be able to successfully establish a breeding population.

The study’s model predicted that pumas are likely to reclaim just 2.1% of their North American historical range by 2100, mostly in boreal Canada. A few western states in the U.S. could also see some new pumas, but they won’t move farther east. Hunting in western states is part of the problem, but the lion’s share of the issue is a combination of human development and highways that create a fragmented landscape that pumas simply can’t break through, the study found. An earlier study found one to two pumas are killed on highways each week in California alone."

Highways prevent pumas from reclaiming their eastern U.S. range: Study

 

[birdsandbats]

This is why we need reintroduction programs for them in the east. There's plenty of suitable habitat in the Appalachians and the upper Great Lakes regions.

 

[Coelacanth18]

Another interesting tidbit from that article:

There have been sightings of pumas in the eastern U.S., but Elbroch said genetic testing shows most of those animals are from South America, likely pets released into the wild, not western cougars that trekked east.

If true, this would mean that the majority of eastern sightings - which I was under the impression were males wandering from further west - are actually escaped captive animals.

In any case, this further strengthens the case for needing many wildlife crossings on our highway system IMO.