32 Nebraskaland • November 2019
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Cougars are usually solitary animals – loners. Look closely, though,
and you will see two mountain lions in this photo – the tagged
mother cougar in the foreground, which had lost its tracking collar,
and one of its two kittens in the background. Trail camera photos of
female cougars with kittens nearing dispersal age have garnered a lot
of attention on social media in recent years, especially if the kittens
are old enough that people wrongly assume they are adult cats
"hunting in packs."
Female cougars reproduce at 2-3 years old and may do so at any
time of the year – most often in warmer months. The litters average
2-4 kittens, as younger females usually give birth to smaller litters.
Kittens stay with their mothers for about a year and a half, so, at a
glance, can appear to be adults toward the end of that period. Figure
in a 90-day gestation period, and it works out to a litter of kittens
about every two years for each female if nature allows. Frequently,
though, the kittens do not survive, and the female will become
sexually receptive ahead of that schedule. In fact, toms are known
to kill kittens, especially those they did not father, in order to trigger
the female back into breeding.
