Energy spent avoiding humans linked to smaller home ranges for male pumas

In the Santa Cruz mountains, pumas are top predators, patrolling a diverse landscape of forests, meadows, peaks, and valleys. But "mountain lion country" is also bordered by coastal cities to the west and Silicon Valley to the east, with major roadways and fringes of development reaching into wildlands. As a result, humans have become a major source of mortality and fear for these cats. UC Santa Cruz researchers have shown that pumas will go to great lengths to avoid human "super predators," even bolting away from food at the sound of human voices.