The Untold Story of California's Mighty Predator

Going Wild with Dr. Rae Wynn-Grant

WNET

Science, Pets & Animals, Nature, Kids & Family, Natural Sciences

4.9 • 636 Ratings

🗓️ 3 October 2023

⏱️ 45 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In a city that loves celebrities, one mountain lion became the mascot for conservation efforts that eventually led to the creation of California’s first wildlife corridor. But one wildlife corridor, even if it’s the largest in the world, isn’t enough. Some populations of mountain lions in Southern California are struggling to survive — threatened by habitat loss caused by urban developments, lack of genetic diversity, and vehicle collisions. As wildlife conservationists are working to save these endangered mountain lion populations, another debate is ensuing over how to include indigenous perspectives in the conservation efforts. Because mountain lions aren’t the only native beings struggling to survive in a world with an unchecked appetite for sprawl and urbanization. Follow Desireé Reneé Martinez, Tongva Tribal Archaeologist and the President of Cogstone Resource Management on Facebook and LinkedIn and follow Miguel Ordeñana, Natural History Museum wildlife biologist, and environmental educator on Instagram. Photo credit for Miguel's episode art: Noé Montes / High Country News. Thanks for listening to Going Wild. We're really excited to share the rest of this season with you! You can learn more about season three HERE and catch up on seasons one and two HERE. If you want to support us, you can follow Going Wild on your favorite podcast-listening app. And while you're there, please leave us a review. It really helps. You can also get updates and bonus content by following me, Dr. Rae Wynn-Grant, and PBS Nature on Instagram, TikTok, Twitter, and Facebook. You can find more information on all of our guests this season in each episode's show notes. And you can catch new episodes of Nature, Wednesdays at 8/7 Central on PBS, pbs.org/nature, and the PBS app. Going Wild is a podcast by PBS Nature. NATURE is an award-winning series created by The WNET Group and made possible by all of you. Views and opinions expressed during the podcast are those of the individuals expressing them and do not necessarily reflect those of THIRTEEN Productions LLC/The WNET Group.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Today we're going to talk about Apex Predators.
0:04.0	But we're starting at a place that you wouldn't normally expect to find large carnivores roaming around,
0:09.9	right in the heart of Los Angeles.
0:15.3	Griffith Park is this famous urban park in L.A.
0:18.1	So picture sprawling hills, covered in trees and shrubs, just an island of
0:23.4	greenery surrounded by freeways. And nestled in these hills is the iconic Hollywood sign. And all
0:30.4	around it are wilderness areas where you'll find native wild animals roaming around, including this
0:36.7	one particular mountain lion. And you might know the
0:41.0	exact mountain lion I'm talking about, especially if you're from Southern California, because this
0:45.6	mountain lion made the news for traveling all the way from the Santa Monica Mountains down to Los Angeles,
0:51.5	crossing 10 lanes of freeway, and then setting up camp at Griffith Park for
0:56.0	over a decade. And as impressive and fascinating as it is for a mountain lion to survive in the
1:01.9	middle of Los Angeles, it's actually really tragic. Because the truth is, Griffith Park isn't
1:09.9	exactly a suitable place for a mountain lion to live.
1:13.2	Even though it's a big park, it's not nearly big enough for such a wide-ranging animal to thrive.
1:19.5	And in fact, it's the smallest territory ever recorded for an adult male mountain lion.
1:28.2	Like, imagine how isolating and lonely it is to be a mountain lion, right?
1:32.4	An apex predator that requires a wide range of territory,
1:36.4	but instead you're confined to this island of wilderness
1:39.3	surrounded by impenetrable freeways,
1:42.0	and then having to spend your entire life alone, not able to find a maid.
1:50.3	So originally, we were going to do a whole story on this mountain lion.
	...

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