Freeways as fences, trapping the mountain lions of Los Angeles
Thursday, August 14, 2014 - 13:30
in Biology & Nature
That mountain lions have managed to survive at all in the Santa Monica Mountains of California -- in the vicinity of Los Angeles -- is a testament to the resilience of wildlife, but researchers studying these large carnivorous cats now show that the lions are also completely isolated, cut off from other populations by the freeway. According to the researchers' analyses, only one young mountain lion successfully dispersed into the Santa Monica Mountains in a decade.