Mountain Lion collars

Cougartown · Post by **Cougartown** » Sat Aug 01, 2026 8:06 pm

We recently had footage of a collared moutain lion on our trail camera in the San Gabriels. We were not aware that there was any entity tracking moutain lions in the San Gabriels (versus Santa Ana/Santa Monica mountains). We tried reading the tag... maybe 2332 but not sure. How do I learn more about this specific moutain lion?

Also, recently another wildlife enthusiast put up cameras in the same canyon we have cameras in. Hello to you, if you're reading this.

Post by **dima** » Sat Aug 01, 2026 10:41 pm

This is a radio collar, or just a numbered tag? If this is a part of a scientific study, there will be public papers that talk about the details. Look around on google scholar? Or share the photo?

Post by **Sean** » Sun Aug 02, 2026 5:58 am

Probably the CDFW.

Cougartown · Post by **Cougartown** » Sun Aug 02, 2026 7:30 am

Google was not much helpful in our search for this specific moutain lion.
Researchers in collaboration with National Park Service is the usual answer.
Santa Monica moutains tagging seems to be using P-## for puma while Santa ana uses F### or M### for female or male. This is our conclusion from posts and articles.
The picture is a bit blurry but we have a hard time seeing a letter.

So where could this one be coming from?

Post by **HikeUp** » Sun Aug 02, 2026 6:01 pm

Johanna might know something about this. Then again, this might all be over my head!

https://www.facebook.com/Cougarmagic

cougarmagic · Post by **cougarmagic** » Sun Aug 02, 2026 7:27 pm

Hi! I still lurk quite a bit. This is really interesting. I don't know for sure, but assume the agency doing the collaring on this lion is CDFW. I will ask a couple of contacts. If so, they'll be interested in the sighting and hopefully be able to give out some details.

The National Park Service doing the Santa Monica mountains study doesn't use numbered ear tags and their study is focused on the Santa Monicas so it's not one of theirs.

I don't recognize the canyon, and I only have cams in the Verdugos right now so the other cam isn't mine.

. Cool looking spot though.

Matthew · Post by **Matthew** » Sun Aug 02, 2026 7:43 pm

Mannnnn! Who would have thought that we'd have cougarmagic AND cougartown in the same thread on this humble forum?!

cougarmagic · Post by **cougarmagic** » Sun Aug 02, 2026 8:03 pm

Matthew wrote: Sun Aug 02, 2026 7:43 pm Mannnnn! Who would have thought that we'd have cougarmagic AND cougartown in the same thread on this humble forum?!

If you say my name three times and post a picture of animal poop, I appear.

Matthew · Post by **Matthew** » Sun Aug 02, 2026 8:44 pm

Cougarmagic
Cougarmagic
Cougarmagic

IMG_0835.jpeg

Cougartown · Post by **Cougartown** » Sun Aug 02, 2026 9:20 pm

Cougarmagic
Cougarmagic
Cougarmagic

Here is more poop. Bobcat or maybe an owl pellet ?

IMG_20260802_211523.jpg

And the other seems to be a cat?

IMG_20260802_211532.jpg

we could do a whole different post about poop but not sure many would get involved

Anyway, thanks for lurking, if you get any information, we would love to know who this moutain lion is or where he/she comes from... It is not the only one

(see below) but this was the first collared moutain lion we have seen on all our cameras, it may only traveling through as we only saw it once so far.

VID_20260712_151211(1).jpg

Post by **HikeUp** » Sun Aug 02, 2026 9:56 pm

Cougartown wrote: Sun Aug 02, 2026 9:20 pm we could do a whole different post about poop but not sure many would get involved

All scat, all the time

cougarmagic · Post by **cougarmagic** » Sat Aug 08, 2026 11:36 am

The collared cat you got is M136, a male. He got his collar in Pasadena. He's now over in the San Bernadinos which is pretty impressive! CDFW (CA Dept. of Fish and Wildlife) is the agency watching him. That's all they relayed about him. It's just part of a statewide study of many species to get real population numbers and DNA.

cougarmagic · Post by **cougarmagic** » Sat Aug 08, 2026 11:45 am

Cougartown for your scat pics - the small fuzzy one seems to be fox that ate a rodent. Usually with an owl pellet there is just the one nugget. The second photo of the gray scat is classic bobcat.

Matthew yours is probably lion. Usually it's more segmented but it can depend on what the meal was.

I should head over to the official poop thread now and have a look around.

Cougartown · Post by **Cougartown** » Fri Aug 14, 2026 9:19 am

I wonder if they mean that he was released in the San Bernadinos or if they meant that when they gave you the information, he was in the San Bernadinos.
Video camera is in Glendora May 2026, so he has been traveling for sure!

Thank you for the information.

On that same camera, in July, we got the pleasure to see 4 moutain lions traveling together. We are assuming it is a mother and 3 year-ling. One was limping and we thought maybe it was limpy, the mother of lions.
But what are the chances that she is still alive and breeding? It was that same leg. Is it a common injury?
The cubs appear to be all females which is very exciting.

VID_20260808_180538(1).jpg

VID_20260808_180538(2).jpg

VID_20260808_180538(3).jpg

Cougartown · Post by **Cougartown** » Fri Aug 14, 2026 9:43 am

Side note: look what we found.
Very active moutain lion area... this did not fit the all scat, all the time. But did not find the all bones, all the time thread.

This was collected in a 4 feet radius. Recent enough that the ligaments were still articulating.