Mountain Lions - Pictures
Mountain Lions - Conservation StatusMountain Lions are in grave danger and they are also enlisted as endangered species since its passage in 1973. The animals are undergoing constant extermination as they are thought to pose a threat to livestock so ranchers kill them to protect their livestock. They are also hunted for their skin.Florida panthers (P.c.coryi) and Eastern cougars (P.c.cougar) are listed as Endangered by the IUCN. These two subspecies along with P.c.costaricensis are on CITES: Appendix I. All other subspecies are on Appendix II. Nowadays it is estimated that there are about 20-50 animals left in the wild. The animals are given to parks for their survival. Such parks as Everglades National Park and Big Cypress National Preserve are among these parks. Settlers who hunted them because they feared them and believed that they were a threat to their livestock eliminated the biggest population of Mountain Lions before 1900. Other historical factors leading to the Mountain Lions' decline were habitat loss due to human invasion and also a subsequent reduction in prey species. What's more, nowadays among other threats are: low population numbers resulting in little genetic variability, diseases, and parasites. Different recovery efforts are now undertaken to keep the Mountain Lion population count up. Mountain Lions - Conservation MeasuresMountain Lions are experiencing a loss of habitat. As their territories lessen, they are bound to experience new ones, thus putting them in closer proximity to humans. This fact forces an interaction with humans that usually results in death of these rare animals. In South Dakota, Mountain Lions are occasionally seen near a town, but even more frequently they reported by ranchers and recreationalists in remote areas of the Black Hills and Badlands. Mountain Lions are endangered and a threatened species whose population lessens every year by the force of the reasons listed above.
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