Research overview: pumas at the urban-wildland interface

Pumas increasingly live near cities in parts of their range, navigating fragmented habitat threaded with roads and development. This overview synthesizes research, notably from California, on how cougars move through and around urban landscapes, the heavy toll of roads and rodenticides, the genetic isolation of populations cut off by highways, and the conflicts and coexistence that arise near people. It reviews how pumas adjust movement and activity to avoid humans, how crossing structures can restore connectivity, and how isolated populations risk inbreeding depression. The synthesis frames the urban interface as a frontier for large-carnivore conservation. For enthusiasts it explains how a wide-ranging predator persists at the edge of major cities, why highways are both lethal and genetically divisive, and how planning for connectivity helps pumas survive in landscapes increasingly dominated by people.