Research overview: intraspecific killing in space-limited urban puma populations

In freeway-bounded puma populations around Los Angeles, killing of pumas by other pumas is an unusually frequent cause of death, a pattern biologists link to compressed home ranges and the inability of dispersing young to leave saturated patches. This overview synthesises telemetry and genetic-parentage research showing how males killing kittens and rival adults, plus father-offspring inbreeding, intensify in habitat islands. It examines how the loss of dispersal options, normally a release valve for territorial carnivores, converts natural social behaviour into a heightened mortality and inbreeding risk. The synthesis frames intraspecific strife as an emergent consequence of urban fragmentation rather than a separate threat.