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By Greg Bartlett

Guess what? You have a new neighbor. No, not someone in the house across the street that’s been for sale for a year. Not even someone in the new apartment buildings down the street. No, your new neighbor lives in town, but you might not even see her. She’s a mountain lion.

Prescott, Arizona, did actually have a mountain lion which lived in town. She recently died when hit by an automobile, but she provided researchers with information about mountain lion habits and activities. Back in 2006, she was outfitted with a GPS tracking collar, which allowed the Game and Fish Department to monitor the mountain lion and see if she needed to be removed from the urban area. Instead, they learned new information about urban mountain lions, and the Prescott mountain lion lived for longer than most mountain lions, and, although spotted a few times, rarely threatened people or their pets.

GPS tracking enabled the Game and Fish Department to study this mountain lion closely, getting an idea of how mountain lions behave when living in urban areas. They were even able to change their policy about killing mountain lions just because of their urban location. The Prescott mountain lion also allowed researchers to find out new information about mountain lions and their habitats, eating patterns, and urban activities. Although the mountain lion once went after a house cat and ended up trapped, which was when the GPS tracking collar was put on, she evidently never hunted another pet and never injured any humans. Despite her close location to humans, the urban mountain lion apparently didn’t pose a serious threat.

The mountain lion is, depending on its variety, a somewhat endangered species. Studying these cats can be a great aid in determining how to help protect these animals from becoming increasingly threatened and eventually extinct. Using a GPS collar to study a mountain lion or other endangered creature allows researchers to learn more about habitats and ways to protect the animals while still permitting the animal to live in the wild. In Prescott, the GPS collar also protected the community, since the Game and Fish Department could monitor the mountain lion if she appeared to be threatening humans.

Research is a valuable aid to helping protect endangered and threatened species. Prescott’s mountain lion provided the Game and Fish Department with valuable new information about urban mountain lions, simply because she wore a GPS tracking collar. Maybe your new neighbor should, too.