Mountain lions face greater risk of becoming roadkill in wildfire’s aftermath, study says
Mountain lions face greater risk of becoming roadkill in wildfire’s aftermath, study says
A mountain lion walks through a residential area of Southern California near Camp Pendleton, California, on Jan. 18, 2008. The California Highway Patrol reported a dead mountain lion on Interstate 15 near Camp Pendleton.
California Mountain Lion
MOUNTAIN LION
Dana Ferguson
MOUNTAIN LIONS
Mountain lions often have their own reasons for not being able to fend off fire. They don’t have claws or teeth to dig into dry mud to protect themselves and, unlike many other animals, they can’t use their bodies as a shield to protect them from high temperatures and flame.
They are the most endangered large carnivore in the world, largely because they have to be wary of humans, according to Michael R. Paine, a professor of biology at the University of California, Davis, and the author of “Animal Fire: How Animals Shape the Fight Against Wildfires” (W. W. Norton).
“In fact, the only place mountain lions are now found that isn’t a human habitat is on a remote island,” he said.
While a mountain lion’s greatest challenge is keeping itself safe from human threats, it’s also a big part of the reason for the animals’ survival, Paine said.
“The threat to a mountain lion is the same as the threat to wildlife,” he said.
If mountain lion colonies were being exposed to fires that they couldn’t outrun, the risk of the fires spreading to more populated areas would be greater, he said.
And mountain lions are the species most likely to survive the wildfire-tipping effects of climate change, he said.
That’s because wildfires have a long history in Southern California, often taking place on the same days as human fires, which tend to occur more often in the summer, Paine said.
“A mountain lion has a very good chance of surviving wildfires in the Sierra Nevada if they do survive one, and the more of these that occur, the more of a survival ability they’ll have,” he said.
Many other species are also facing an increase in wildfire danger, he said.
