Mortality of an Adult Cougar Due to a Forest Fire

Mortality from natural causes has been documented throughout the range of the cougar (Puma concolor), including California (Beier and Barrett 1993), Canada (Ross et al. 1995), Florida (Taylor et al. 2002), Idaho (Hornocker 1970), Nevada (Ashman et al. 1983), New Mexico (Logan and Sweanor 2001), and Utah (Gashwiler and Robinette 1957, Lindzey et al. 1988). Intraspecific killing by adult males is the most common cause of death in unhunted populations; adult males have killed kittens, subadults, and adults of both sexes (Beier and Barrett 1993, Maehr 1997, Logan and Sweanor 2001, Taylor et al. 2002). Other mortality factors include other carnivores such as the gray wolf (Canis lupus) (Boyd and Neale 1992) and coyote (Canis latrans) (Logan and Sweanor 2001), injuries from prey (e.g., North American porcupine [Erethizon dorsatum; Robinette et al. 1959], deer [Odocoileus spp.; Lindzey et al. 1988], elk [Cervus elaphus], and bighorn sheep [Ovis canadensis; Ross et al. 1995]), starvation, accidents (Lindzey 1987), parasites, disease (Dixon 1982, Logan and Sweanor 2001), old age (Hornocker 1970), and snakebites (Logan and Sweanor 2001). We report the death of an adult female cougar from a forest fire in the Black Hills, South Dakota

A Direct Comparison of Enclosed Track Plates and Remote Cameras in Detecting Fishers, Martes pennanti, in North Dakota

Fishers (Martes pennanti) historically were reported to occupy forested areas of northeastern North Dakota, but the population was presumed extirpated during the 1900s as a result of overtrapping. Recently (≤15 years), Fishers have been recolonizing the state, and there is increasing interest in developing approaches for monitoring the population. During the period June–August 2008, we compared the efficacy of remote cameras and enclosed track plates in detecting Fishers in riparian forest along portions of the drainage basin of the Red River of the North in eastern North Dakota. We monitored 122 scent stations, each composed of both detection devices, with the remote camera positioned to monitor the entrance of the enclosed track plate. Fishers were detected at 40 of the 122 scent stations (32.8%) distributed along approximately 790 km of riparian forest. Among those 40 stations, Fishers were detected by both camera and track plate at 28 stations (70.0%), by camera only at 9 stations (22.5%), and on track plates only at 3 stations (7.5%). Overall, Fishers were detected 37 times by camera (92.5%) and 31 times on a track plate (77.5%). From photographic evidence at the 37 stations where Fishers were detected by camera, we determined that the average latency to initial detection was 4.8 days (SE 0.3, range 1–8). Among the 37 stations where Fishers were detected by camera, detections most frequently occurred on one (27 sites) (73.0%) or two days (7 sites) (19.0%) of a detection period