Research overview: puma range dynamics and eastward recolonization potential

Pumas were extirpated from much of eastern North America but persist and expand in the west, prompting study of where suitable habitat exists and how the species might recolonize. This overview surveys habitat-suitability modeling for puma range expansion, the role of prey, forest cover, and human tolerance, and how climate and land-use change may reshape future suitable areas. It reviews dispersal records of young males moving long distances eastward and the barriers they face. The synthesis frames the puma as an adaptable felid whose range is in flux, illustrating how a wide-ranging generalist's future distribution depends on connectivity, social acceptance, and shifting habitat as much as on climate per se.