Two cats drink in the night
Marsha Morris used a trail camera to capture this photo of two Mountain Lions that made a nighttime visit to drink from a water feature at the Morris home in Golden Hills just before Christmas.
It appears that there may be a mother Mountain Lion drinking at the right of the photo, as her mostly-grown offspring approaches from behind a boulder at the left.
Mountain Lions are typically solitary, and when you see more than one, it is usually a mother and her cubs.
Mountain Lion mothers can give birth to from one to six offspring, but usually have two, and typically only one survives, though in favorable conditions an experienced mother may raise three. The cubs have lots of little dark markings to act as camouflage when they are little, and these markings fade as the babies get bigger.
The cub or cubs can begin to catch small prey when they are about six months old, and they remain with their mother for one to two years. They must disperse when their mother enters an estrus cycle again, or they risk being killed by any male Mountain Lion that is drawn to their mother.
Mountain Lions primarily prey on California Mule Deer in the Tehachapi Mountains. There have been occasional instances of Mountain Lions killing livestock, including goats, and a few instances of them killing pets like dogs or cats.
They will nearly always avoid people, but they are recorded by trail cameras and doorbell cameras from time to time, and are definitely living throughout the area.
Hikers and mountain bikers have seen them, and people who recreate in the mountains need to be aware of the potential to encounter these big cats.
The Nuwä (Kawaiisu or Southern Paiute) word for Mountain Lion is tukumbuutsi, pronounced too-come-BOOT-si.
NATURAL SIGHTINGS is a regular feature of the Tehachapi News edited by Jon Hammond which showcases photos of the natural beauty that enhances the quality of life in Tehachapi. If you have a good quality image of plants, animals, insects, trees, birds, weather phenomena, etc., taken in the Tehachapi area, you may submit it to the Tehachapi News. Submissions can be dropped by the News office