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roy reali · June 9, 2007, 01:42 PM

This morning I went out to do some starling population control. I would spot a flying pattern. I would move to be within shotgun range. The birds then altered their paths to be just out of shotgun range. I moved, then they moved. Doves have nothing on these birds.

A few years ago I read an interesting article about mountain lions. I can"t remember where I read it. But it had an interesting theory about cougar behavior.

Oregon has mountain lion hunting. California hasn't had it for more then two decades. California has many more lion human encounters then Oregon. The population of the cats in the two states are about the same. This article suggests Darwinism has been negatively impacted in California due to the hunting ban.

The author thinks that if a mountain lion is born with some sort of predisposition to not fear man, in a "normal" state, these cats are taken out by hunters. The lions that have the genetic makeup to avoid civilization live on and reproduce the same. In other words, the human-cougar encounters in California are due to the fact that the bolder cats reproduce bolder off springs. These cats are doing better because their proximity to humans provides them with more sources of food. Their genes are being passed on even more then the more wary cats.

I don't know if this true. I am not sure I completely buy it. But here in Nevada we have mountain lions. We also have mountain lion hunting. Like Oregon, encounters with them are very rare.

June 9, 2007, 01:42 PM	#26
roy reali Senior Member Join Date: August 23, 2005 Posts: 3,248	Great Thread!!! This morning I went out to do some starling population control. I would spot a flying pattern. I would move to be within shotgun range. The birds then altered their paths to be just out of shotgun range. I moved, then they moved. Doves have nothing on these birds. A few years ago I read an interesting article about mountain lions. I can"t remember where I read it. But it had an interesting theory about cougar behavior. Oregon has mountain lion hunting. California hasn't had it for more then two decades. California has many more lion human encounters then Oregon. The population of the cats in the two states are about the same. This article suggests Darwinism has been negatively impacted in California due to the hunting ban. The author thinks that if a mountain lion is born with some sort of predisposition to not fear man, in a "normal" state, these cats are taken out by hunters. The lions that have the genetic makeup to avoid civilization live on and reproduce the same. In other words, the human-cougar encounters in California are due to the fact that the bolder cats reproduce bolder off springs. These cats are doing better because their proximity to humans provides them with more sources of food. Their genes are being passed on even more then the more wary cats. I don't know if this true. I am not sure I completely buy it. But here in Nevada we have mountain lions. We also have mountain lion hunting. Like Oregon, encounters with them are very rare.