Survival and mortality of pumas in a fragmented, urbanizing landscape

Drawing on years of telemetry across southern California, this study quantified survival rates and causes of death for pumas living in landscapes increasingly fragmented by roads and development. Vehicle collisions emerged as a leading mortality source, alongside rodenticide-related deaths, intraspecific aggression, illegal killing and depredation removals tied to livestock conflict. By identifying where and how cougars died, the authors highlighted the cumulative human toll on a wide-ranging carnivore squeezed between freeways and expanding suburbs. The findings informed mitigation priorities, from crossing structures that reduce roadkill to addressing the anticoagulant poisons accumulating in the region food web.