A boom in mountain lion births has occurred this summer in Southern California.
The National Park Service says 13 kittens were born to five mountain lion mothers between May and August in the Santa Monica Mountains and Simi Hills west of Los Angeles.
It’s the first time so many mountain lion dens have been found within such a short period of time during the 18 years in which the region’s cougar population has been studied by the Park Service.
The most dens found previously in one year was four, spread across 10 months in 2015. The study is looking into how the big cats survive in fragmented and urbanized habitat.
