96 ANIMAL LIFE IN THE YOSEMITE 



The range of the Mountain Lion in the Yosemite region is not so 

 definitely bounded as that of many other species of mammals. In general 

 the lions are to be found in the territory occupied by the Mule Deer, 

 namely, the Canadian, Transition, and Upper Sonoran zones. There is 

 to some extent, doubtless, a shifting of the lion's range in unison with 

 the seasonal migrations of the deer. In the winter of 1915-16 Mr. Jay 

 Bruce secured 11 lions in a rather limited tract of country near Wawona, 

 and others were obtained by him in later years in the same region, a total 

 of 31 being taken in the three winter seasons, 1915 to 1918. During the 

 winter of 1915-16 at least 4 lions were obtained by other hunters in and 

 about Hetcli Hetchy Valley. Lions are noted not infrequently in the 

 vicinity of the-Dudley ranch on Smith Creek, east of Coulterville. Several 

 individuals usually winter on Pilot Peak ridge where there are many deer. 

 But Mountain Lions are likely to turn up at any point in the region. Thus, 

 one was reported to have lived in the vicinity of Williams Butte, near Mono 

 Lake, prior to 1910. And in 1920, about June 23, a lioness was shot under 

 the road bridge across the Crocker-Hoffman canal halfway between Merced 

 and Snelling, out in the San Joaquin Valley. Another is said to have been 

 killed in the same locality a few days later. Lions are also said to have 

 occurred at the "Three Buttes" on the plains south of Merced Falls. 



The total population in the Yosemite section of an animal as stealthy 

 in its habits as the Mountain Lion, is, as might be surmised, very difficult 

 to estimate. Placing the number at one to a township (36 square miles), 

 an average figure for an area well stocked with deer, there would be about 

 12 to 15 lions in our Yosemite section, and 20 to 25 in Yosemite National 

 Park. These figures give the average population at a time when no inten- 

 sive hunting has been done. With a total kill of 31 in three seasons in 

 the Wawona district, the figures given are doubtless high. But these 

 numbers may again be expected if efforts to destroy the animals be dis- 

 continued. 



In 1918, and for some years subsequently, there w^as in the "zoo" in 

 Yosemite Valley a female Mountain Lion which had been captured as a 

 young kitten. Because of the interest which this individual excited among 

 visitors to the Valley and because her record is the only bit of local infor- 

 mation we have concerning the breeding of the Mountain Lion, we give 

 her history and some notes on her habits in detail. 



On April 27, 1918, Mr. Jay C. Bruce, now lion hunter for the California 

 Fish and Game Commission, trailed and shot a female Mountain Lion in 

 her lair in a rocky, brush-covered bluff about 3 miles north of Wawona. 

 The den was among rocks, about 6 feet long and 2 feet wide, and was lined 

 with pine needles. In the den were found 3 dusky spotted kittens, 2 

 females and a male, which were about the size of cottontail rabbits. Their 



