November 2019 • Nebraskaland 31
Take note of the ear tags in these two
photos. While the tags are the same, the
cat has certainly changed from one photo
to the other. Researchers occasionally
have multiple experiences with individual
mountain lions. I photographed this one
with Sam Wilson in August 2015 while it was
being tagged as a four-week-old kitten, and
17 months later when it was captured and
collared a few miles away as a young adult.
Cougars rarely cooperate with
normal working hours. Here are
Game and Parks employees Linsey
Blake, Maria Baglieri and Greg
Schenbeck collaring a tranquilized
mountain lion at 12:46 a.m. in
the January 2017 darkness. As
of this writing, 14 cougars were
carrying working collars in the
Pine Ridge. Researchers have
installed collars many more times
than that, though. The total
number, which has been as high
as 17, fluctuates as transmitters
become inoperable, cats die and
researchers laboriously capture
and recollar cats.
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