A female mountain lion tracked by National Park Service biologists recently gave birth to three female kittens near Simi Valley.
The mother, known as P-77, was first captured in the Simi Hills during November 2019 and is estimated to be between 5 and 6 years old. Biologists believe she has established her range in the relatively small habitat between the larger Santa Monica and Santa Susana mountain ranges.
On May 18 biologists with the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area located the kittens in a dense patch of poison oak nestled among large boulders. After waiting until the mother went away to hunt, the scientists took biological samples and measured the kittens. A uniquely colored ear tag was also placed on each kitten so that they can be identified by trail cameras. Scientists say the kittens, known as P-113, P-114, and P-115, appear to be healthy and should play an important role in the mountain lion study that began in 2002.
“It will be interesting to learn how these kittens will use the landscape once they get older and disperse, particularly if they decide to stay in the Simi Hills or cross freeways to enter larger natural areas,” said Jeff Sikich, the lead field biologist of the NPS mountain lion study. “It’s encouraging to see reproduction in our small population of mountain lions, especially after all the mortalities we have documented in the last year.”
Scientists have found two other litters of kittens in the Simi Hills before, in 2018 and 2020, but the two mother lions known as P-62 and P-67 are now deceased.
It’s unclear who the father of the latest litter is since scientists are not currently tracking any male mountain lions in the area between the 118 and 101 freeways. They speculate that the father came from the Santa Susana Mountains and then went back.
The last two male mountain lions radio-tracked regularly in the Simi Hills were P-64, who died in the 2018 Woolsey Fire, and P-38, who was killed by a poacher in 2019. Both of those mountain lions used other mountain ranges in addition to the Simi Hills as their habitat
Since the study began, scientists have marked 25 litters of kittens at their den sites. An additional four litters were discovered and marked when they were over six months old and already traveling with their mothers.