the cougar in the santa ana mountain range, california

9-15. Her left pelvis had been shattered at the
hip socket, with several bone fragments (up to 2
inches long) separated from the rest ofthe bone,
and no visible growth ofscar tissue. The femur
was not damaged.
F16: Clinton Keith Road, 06:30 AM
August 15 1991. The yearling F16 was struck
near the crest ofthe road west of Murietta. She
remained in a wooded canyon with flowing
water at the accident site during August 16-27.
She left the accident area by August 31 1991
and traveled considerable distances around
Mesa de Burro, Mesa de Colorado, and upper
De Luz Creek during August 31- September
16. Her movements seemed to reflect recovery
from the accident, but she died about
September 19. F16 had been accompanied by
her mother 24 hours before the accident, but
never after the injury. FI6's sister (FI7)
dispersed from her mother a few days later and
perhaps the accident occurred during agonistic
interactions accompanying family breakup.
The accident injuries combined with the stress
of being newly independent were the primary
factors in her death.
M5: Santiago Canyon Road, 6:00 AM
April 23 1991. Shortly after the accident M5
moved about 400 m from the accident site into
a well-wooded canyon. He moved very little
for 3 weeks after this collision. A small seep
about 250m away was M5's nearest source of
water but a lack oftracks suggests that he went
a full week without water. Tracks show that he
did drink from the seep between April 30 and
May 5; the seep dried up between May 7 and
May 11. He also appeared not to have eaten
for the first 7 days. A thorough search on April
30 turned up I dried scat from his last meal
before the collision. An opossum that died at
the seep about April 28 rotted there untouched
by M5. A fresh scat indicated that M5 killed
and ate an opossum on about May 10. On May
17, M5 moved 3.5 km (2.2 miles) to Peters
Canyon Reservoir, which had ample water,
dense woody cover, and abundant small prey;
50
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for the next 3 weeks he remained in the small
dense willow forest surrounding this lake.
For the remaining 5 months of his life,
M5 moved very short distances per day,
repeatedly covering the same short travel routes
in areas of very level terrain. M5's preference
for level terrain brought him into areas of
intense human use (described in greater detail in
Chapter 9), including Irvine Regional Park,
Santiago Oaks Regional Park, and Santiago
Creek downstream from these parks. In 6 postaccident
months of travel in such areas, there
were only 2 reported sightings of M5, and this
underweight animal never acted in a way that
threatened humans or their pets. His only
documented kills after the accident were
opossums. On about September 22 1991, M5
died in the willow forest behind Villa Park
Dam. All of his daytime locations (n = IQ)
during the preceding 3 weeks had been within
400m of the death site and within the level
impoundment area. There was no sign of fresh
injury on his carcass. He was markedly
underweight for a 3-year-old male (82 pounds),
but his skull and skeleton were of normal size
for his age.
His skeletal remains revealed 2 severe
leg injuries from his accident. His right femur
was broken about 2 cm above the knee, and had
rotated backwards about 90 0 , and laterally
(outward) about 20 0 . Massive scar tissue had
created a solid replacement bone, and the wear
pattern on the femur and tibia indicated that the
knee joint functioned normally in this new
position. The more severe injury was to M5's
left hip. The ball joint on his left femur was
completely sheared off at its base, and was no
longer part ofthe joint. New articular surfaces
had formed on the fracture surface at the top
end of the femur and on the dorsal ridge of the
acetabulum (socket). The articular surface on
the femur was about 1 cm 2 and rubbed against
a worn area at least 6 times this large along the
entire upper half of the socket ridge. Thus this
replacement hip joint must have been weak and