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Mountain lion and cub walking in snow

Conservation > Wildlife Management > Movement and Migration > Carnivores Mountain Lion Tracking

Habitat use of dispersing mountain lions was examined using locations of dispersing mountain lions from three separate study areas in Montana and Wyoming. Locations of mountain lions were used to test competing models of habitat preference. The best performing model showed dispersing mountain lions selected habitat characteristics associated with successful hunting of ungulate prey and avoided areas with human development. This highlights the importance of suitable hunting habitat for dispersing mountain lions. Extensive research has repeatedly indicated access to prey is the primary determinate of habitat use of resident adult mountain lions as well. Thus, habitat models developed for adult mountain lion are likely to provide a good proxy for dispersing mountain lion space use and population connectivity.