A wildlife photographer recently had a primal experience when out hiking in Orange County, California when they were stared down by a huge mountain lion. Luckily Mark Girardeau knew exactly what to do to keep himself and his friend safe in such a situation, and they caught it on camera (warning: adult language in the video).
Santa Monica’s Mountain Lions Caught on Camera
Mountain lions, also known as pumas or cougars, are one of the largest and most powerful predators in the United States. Despite that, they are reclusive and tend to stay away from people, making it very difficult to photograph them.
A National Parks Service biologist was able to track a deer carcass thanks to the GPS coordinates from one of the mountain lions’ tracking collars, and hike to the location during the day to setup a remote camera while the animals were away. Come night time, the lions returned to the carcass and were surprised to see an unknown flashing contraption that had mysteriously shown up.
While this is not the first time mountain lions were captured by a remote camera, the animals captured in these images might account for up to a third of the entire Santa Monica Mountains population.
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