5 Mountain Lions Seen Together In Rare Video. Why This Is "Extraordinary"
Five mountain lions were spotted together in California on Wednesday - an event dubbed "extraordinary" as these big cats are rarely seen together. According to Mercury News, the footage was recorded at a rural residence at the edge of the El Dorado National Forest.
"We shared the videos and photos with several of our wildlife biologists and none of them could recall ever seeing five mountain lions together in the same photo or video," said California Department of Fish and Wildlife spokesperson Peter Tira, according to Fox 40.
"Extraordinary to capture five together for sure," he said.
Mountain lions, also known as cougars, typically lead solitary lives, with mothers chasing their young ones off after about a year. Biologists say that the only time more than one mountain lion can be seen together is either during their mating season or when a mother is raising her cubs.
"They're not very tolerant of other mountain lions in their territories," Mr Tira said.
According to Mercury News, one of the mountain lions in the video is bigger than the others, so scientists speculate it's the mother lion. However, Mr Tira does not believe that they all belong to the same litter.
"Potentially could be two different age classes, some yearlings and maybe a 2-year-old lion that she may have had earlier," he said.
Mountain lions are considered shy and elusive creatures that rarely attack humans, preferring to hunt deer.