Elbroch's research on puma table scraps highlighted in ScienceNOW and others

Despite their extensive range, researchers know little about the behavior of these solitary creatures, says Mark Elbroch, a wildlife ecologist at the University of California, Davis. Now, a first-of-its-kind field study by Elbroch and Davis colleague Heiko Wittmer has shed new light on the puma's ecological role. Between March 2008 and September 2009, the researchers caught nine pumas living in a 1100-square-kilometer region in southern Chile and strapped GPS-equipped radio collars on them. As the creatures roamed their home ranges, the collars recorded their location every 2 hours and relayed that info to the scientists once every 2 to 5 days. If the cats spent more than 2 hours in one spot around dusk or dawn or during the night, the researchers went to that site to check for the remains of puma prey.

Read the full ScienceNOW story

Read a Conservation Magazine story about the research

Read the original research that appeared in Biology Letters (PDF download, less than 0.5 MB)