Distinctly Montana Magazine

B e i n E I New River Side Cabins Superb Cuisine and Libations A Full Service Resort Restaurant Indulge yourself in our massage cabin Quinn's is perfect for ALL EVENTS — Reunions, corporate retreats, weddings, girlfriend getaways, and man-cations! D e! s Outdoors—hiking, riding, fishing and exploring all the Paradise Valley has to offer Relax at Quinn's Tavern and the Harwood House a y Quinn's Hot Springs Resort Paradise, Montana Soak at leisure in our Magnificent Hot Springs Pools Enjoy the Clark Fork River and Montana's Great After a cat is immobilized, the team allows 48 minutes to complete examinations and sampling. Doug Powell, left, and Justin Rhine collect hair samples from M4, a male lion. They will record his body length, weight, estimate his age and collect blood samples. "We constantly monitor his response to the chemical by checking his temperature and respiration," Powell says. (406) 826-3150 Open 365 Days Just a 70 Scenic Minute Drive NW of Missoula Check out our website for current lodging specials and book online at: www.quinnshotsprings.com 18 Nowadays most mountain lions inhabit the western states. In Montana, Powell has followed lions for 12 years in two different studies across diverse landscapes. That some lions prefer to live in the mountains while others choose the river bottoms is one ob- servation. "The preference may be a learned behavior taught from their mother and/or many other factors in addition to prey avail- ability which can influence the cats preference for a certain type of terrain," Powell explains. And it's possible that mountain lion mothers teach their progeny a thing or two about mankind's penchant for boundaries. "Some of the home range data indicate older cats know where the refuge boundaries are," he says. "They seem to stay near or within the boundaries, though this may be based on the habitat where the trees give way to the open plains." While the big cats vary in size, adult males are generally eight feet long—three feet of that is tail—and weigh between 110-180 pounds. The females are about seven feet long and between 85- 120 pounds. Lions are loners except during courtship or when a female is raising kittens. Females first breed at two to three years of age and give birth at about two-year intervals. Litter size ranges between one and six kittens. The kittens stay with their mother for 12 to 22 months. Their independence is believed to coincide with their mother's return to reproductive condition. Although lions are a top predator, they do encounter precarious situations. For instance, of the seven animals the team fitted with collars in the winters of 2011 and 2012, one was caught in a leg hold trap outside of the refuge. It died a few days later. Two others vanished, which Powell attributes to poor collar transmission or malfunction, and/or death, or dispersal. Two cats survived to the predetermined 12-month collar drop off. As for the remaining two animals, a male and a female, Powell will be monitoring them until their collars drop off in January 2013. If January snowfall is sufficient, team members will search the CMR ridges and coulees for mountain lion tracks. A new series of high-tech GPS/satellite collars will be deployed, enabling the team to monitor lion locations via the Internet, in addition to traditional aerial telemetry. Meanwhile, the large, impressive, regal cats continue to make strides repopulating what was once their historic range. We can be hopeful that in these contemporary times we humans will make a better effort coexisting with one of North America's most magnificent/thrilling animals. DISTINCTLY MONTANA • WINTER 2013 X P P u s T a P t l r t a i f ' u a a I i d

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