Desert Puma: Evolutionary Ecology and Conservation of an Enduring Carnivore

Logan and Sweanor's monograph reports a decade-long study of pumas in New Mexico's San Andres Mountains, one of the most thorough investigations of cougar population and predation ecology. It documents kill rates, prey selection (chiefly mule deer), the demographic effects of predation, dispersal, land tenure and how puma predation interacts with prey populations including desert bighorn sheep. The book addresses whether puma predation is compensatory or additive and how source-sink dynamics shape cougar persistence. With rigorous long-term data on marked individuals, it is a definitive reference for solitary-felid predation in arid systems and a key resource for managers weighing cougar impacts on deer and on vulnerable prey such as bighorn.