Snow Leopard Survival Strategy - Panthera

for 62% of the area in panther home ranges. We used
correlation and discriminant function analyses to assess
the potential importance of 20 landscape features. These
panther locations were effectively distinguished from
random points using four landscape variables: (1) the
size of a contiguous patch of preferred land cover; (2)
the proximity to preferred land cover; (3) the diversity
of three preferred cover types within a window 120 x
120 m, and (4) the matrix within which preferred cover
types occurred 83% of the panther locations and 81.9%
of the random points were correctly classified based on
a linear model constructed using these four variables.
Large, contiguous areas of preferred land-cover types
were especially important because 96% of all panther
locations occurred within 90 m of preferred land cover.
The average preferred forest patch size that was used by
these panthers was 20,816 ha, and a regression equation
suggests that patches larger than 500 ha are important.
Maps of panther habitat suitability were developed using
coefficients derived from discriminant analysis. Large
areas of suitable land cover that are heavily used by
panthers occur on private ranches covering 3606 km 2 .
Conservation of preferred habitat on these private lands
is essential to maintaining a free-ranging population of
panthers in southwest Florida.
Maehr, D. S. and C. T. Moore. 1992. Models of mass
growth for 3 North-American cougar populations.
Journal of Wildlife Management 56(4):700-707.
Previous studies of cougar (Felis concolor) physiology
and population dynamics relied on growth curves of
cougars obtained from diverse locations and under various
rearing conditions. We were concerned about potential
biases in studies that make but do not test the implicit
assumption of homogeneity of growth characteristics
among collection sites. Thus, we compared body masses
of wild cougars from populations in Florida (F. c.
coryi), Nevada (F. c. kaibabensis), and California (F. c.
californica). We modeled mass as a nonlinear Richards
function of age for each sex and population demographic
group. Groups were consistent with respect to estimated
birth mass and location of the inflection point of the
growth curve. Adult mass was greater (P < 0.001) in
males than females in all populations, and the size of
the difference was similar among populations. Estimated
adult masses of Florida and California cougars were not
different (P = 0.381) from each other but were less (P <
0.001) than that of adult Nevada cougars. Growth rate
varied by population but not by sex; Nevada cougars
grew fastest to adult mass. Cougar mass is too variable
to serve alone as an indicator of age beyond 24 months.
Failure to control for population-specific influences on
growth may bias inferences about growth.
Manfredo, M.J., H.C. Zinn, L. Sikorowski and J.
Jones. 1998. Public acceptance of mountain lion
management: a case study of Denver, Colorado, and
nearby foothills areas Wildlife Society Bulletin 26:
964-970.
We propose that information about public attitudes
toward mountain lion (Puma concolor) management
practices is most useful when it accounts for the specific
context of human- mountain lion encounter situations.
A mail survey was used to assess public acceptance of
4 management actions involving mountain lions in 4
encounter situations occurring at 2 types of locations.
Results showed strong support for the hypothesis that
acceptance of management actions depends on the
specific circumstances of the situations. We suggest
that mountain lion management policies should account
for a range of contingencies and that future studies of
attitudes toward management actions should consider the
importance of attitude specificity.
Mazzolli, M., M. E. Graipel and N. Dunstone. 2002.
Mountain lion depredation in southern Brazil.
Biological Conservation 105(1):43-51.
Mountain lion (Puma concolor) depredation incidents
on livestock herds were recorded at 15 ranches in
southern Brazil from 1993 to 1995. Maximum losses
to mountain lions were 78% for goats, 84% for sheep,
and 16% for cattle. Cattle mortality arising from causes
other than depredation assumed a greater importance
in herd productivity. In contrast, attacks on sheep and
goats were more frequent than losses to other causes, but
could be reduced to acceptable levels when Rocks were
corralled at night. Most depredation incidents occurred
when weather and light conditions were unfavorable to
human activity. We explain these patterns and inter-ranch
variation in depredation rates on the basis of a riskavoidance
strategy by the mountain lions. Stock losses
can be minimized by understanding these patterns and by
applying appropriate herd husbandry, thus reducing the
urge to persecute this protected species.
McCarthy, T. M. 2000. Ecology and conservation of
snow leopards, Gobi brown bears, and wild Bactrian
camels in Mongolia . Ph.D. Dissertation. Univ. of
Massachusetts, Amherst, MA. 133 pp.
A GIS map of snow leopard range in Mongolia was
produced using extensive sign data collected using
the SLIMS methodology. This was combined with
information gained through extensive interviews
with local people and historic data from Russian and
Mongolian expeditions. The map did not rely on digital
imagery, but on polygons hand-drawn on 1:500,000
basemaps using elevation as the sole habitat parameter of
interest. In this regard the map is better ground-truthed
than the Hunter-Jackson model, but less well supported
by habitat parameter data.
McDaniel, G. W., K. S. McKelvey, J. R. Squires and L.
F. Ruggiero. 2000. Efficacy of lures and hair snares to
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