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So is this proof that there can be rare circumstances where solitary felines will help each other out? Cougars for example, sometimes visit each other, so couldn't you have a hungry mother with near full grown cups at a carcass defending their kill from either a Wolf or a few, a Black Bear or small young Brown Bear? Maybe if you have a very rare circumstance, a mother and father that are used to share pretty well when meeting, and then have the father also trying to fend whatever is there to steal their food off?
So is this proof that there can be rare circumstances where solitary felines will help each other out? Cougars for example, sometimes visit each other, so couldn't you have a hungry mother with near full grown cups at a carcass defending their kill from either a Wolf or a few, a Black Bear or small young Brown Bear? Maybe if you have a very rare circumstance, a mother and father that are used to share pretty well when meeting, and then have the father also trying to fend whatever is there to steal their food off?
Well here is an example. Female Cougar F27 'adopted' two non related subadult male Cougars. The following describes an encounter between this Cougar family and three wolves:
Taipan
Jan 10 2012, 03:57 PM
The deal likely works out well for F27’s two adopted males. Not only do they get a little extra tutelage from an experienced hunter, but F27 is “a killing machine” who is able to take advantage of the abundant game along the Gros Ventre River, said Quigley. Craighead Beringia South researchers have documented at least eight ungulate carcasses in the area, and, while wolves may have played a part, F27 probably did most of the killing in just a few weeks.
But why would F27 tolerate two males sponging off her hard-earned prey? Quigley said wolves might be the answer.
While one cougar on an animal carcass is no match for a pack of hungry wolves, three full-sized cougars might be a deterrent to marauding canids.
There is little scientific evidence to back up these theories, Quigley said. Researchers have documented similar so-called altruistic social behavior with matriarchal family groups among bison, wolves and elephants, just to name a few species.
“You could theorize that these social relationships could be good for prey capture, information, or there might be simply a protection benefit from being together,” he said. “Why would you put energy into raising something that is not related to you? It’s a great thing to speculate about from a scientific standpoint.”
A few days later, Marilyn Cuthill, a wildlife researcher with Craighead Beringia South, observes wolf behavior that lends some credence to Quigley’s hypothesis. As she walks up the same butte overlooking a section of the Gros Ventre River, low light and heavy snow makes for poor visibility. But she’s able to spy three wolves running down the hill before they disappear in a thicket of willows and evergreens where she knows at least five cats are waiting.
“I heard kind of a wailing sound and lots of commotion, not quite barking, but dog sounds,” she said. “As soon as I set up my scope, I saw two black wolves shoot out like a cannon. The third one, maybe a grey wolf, eventually comes limping along.”
A few days later we again head up the butte, this time with field biologist Travis Bartnick. Bartnick spent the morning peering through the spotting scope at yet another kill, this one located in a group of trees just below a cliff. Elk and deer are everywhere.
F27 is alone on the kill, but radio collars tell Bartnick that her kittens, both adopted and natural, are close by. At one point she gets up to investigate an elk walking on the hill above her. The ungulate is only 20 feet away, but whatever she’s eating now seems to have satiated her appetite.
The cougar sits down and we get our first good look at her face. It seems as though she’s peering through the branches right at us. Maybe we’re too far away to constitute a threat.
She then lies on her side slowly closes her eyes, dozing in the afternoon sun.
On her neck, the GPS collar continues to send out signals to satellites orbiting above the Earth, giving researchers an unprecedented look at one of the most secretive predators on the planet.
So is this proof that there can be rare circumstances where solitary felines will help each other out? Cougars for example, sometimes visit each other, so couldn't you have a hungry mother with near full grown cups at a carcass defending their kill from either a Wolf or a few, a Black Bear or small young Brown Bear? Maybe if you have a very rare circumstance, a mother and father that are used to share pretty well when meeting, and then have the father also trying to fend whatever is there to steal their food off?
Well here is an example. Female Cougar F27 'adopted' two non related subadult male Cougars. The following describes an encounter between this Cougar family and three wolves:
Taipan
Jan 10 2012, 03:57 PM
The deal likely works out well for F27’s two adopted males. Not only do they get a little extra tutelage from an experienced hunter, but F27 is “a killing machine” who is able to take advantage of the abundant game along the Gros Ventre River, said Quigley. Craighead Beringia South researchers have documented at least eight ungulate carcasses in the area, and, while wolves may have played a part, F27 probably did most of the killing in just a few weeks.
But why would F27 tolerate two males sponging off her hard-earned prey? Quigley said wolves might be the answer.
While one cougar on an animal carcass is no match for a pack of hungry wolves, three full-sized cougars might be a deterrent to marauding canids.
There is little scientific evidence to back up these theories, Quigley said. Researchers have documented similar so-called altruistic social behavior with matriarchal family groups among bison, wolves and elephants, just to name a few species.
“You could theorize that these social relationships could be good for prey capture, information, or there might be simply a protection benefit from being together,” he said. “Why would you put energy into raising something that is not related to you? It’s a great thing to speculate about from a scientific standpoint.”
A few days later, Marilyn Cuthill, a wildlife researcher with Craighead Beringia South, observes wolf behavior that lends some credence to Quigley’s hypothesis. As she walks up the same butte overlooking a section of the Gros Ventre River, low light and heavy snow makes for poor visibility. But she’s able to spy three wolves running down the hill before they disappear in a thicket of willows and evergreens where she knows at least five cats are waiting.
“I heard kind of a wailing sound and lots of commotion, not quite barking, but dog sounds,” she said. “As soon as I set up my scope, I saw two black wolves shoot out like a cannon. The third one, maybe a grey wolf, eventually comes limping along.”
A few days later we again head up the butte, this time with field biologist Travis Bartnick. Bartnick spent the morning peering through the spotting scope at yet another kill, this one located in a group of trees just below a cliff. Elk and deer are everywhere.
F27 is alone on the kill, but radio collars tell Bartnick that her kittens, both adopted and natural, are close by. At one point she gets up to investigate an elk walking on the hill above her. The ungulate is only 20 feet away, but whatever she’s eating now seems to have satiated her appetite.
The cougar sits down and we get our first good look at her face. It seems as though she’s peering through the branches right at us. Maybe we’re too far away to constitute a threat.
She then lies on her side slowly closes her eyes, dozing in the afternoon sun.
On her neck, the GPS collar continues to send out signals to satellites orbiting above the Earth, giving researchers an unprecedented look at one of the most secretive predators on the planet.
![]](http://b2.ifrm.com/28122/87/0/p701956/pipright.png)
6:06 PM Jul 13
