From the Santa Cruz Sentinel/San Jose Mercury News, a nice article on 16m’s penchant for crossing roads. Not sure where they got the name Atlas from, but so it goes. By the way, that large scare he has in the photo above on his rump – we think he got hit and dragged by a car on hwy 17, but he survived and is doing well now.
But what sets this mountain lion apart is the expanse of his territory. Atlas, at he is sometimes known, roams the mountains on either side of Highway 17, crossing the busy road regularly to reinforce his domain. He is distinguishing himself not only by the risks he assumes, but by surviving them.
“What he’s basically done is set up a home range that has Highway 17 as a line right down the middle of it,” said Chris Wilmers, who heads UCSC’s Santa Cruz Puma Project, which has tagged and tracked nearly 40 lions throughout the Santa Cruz Mountains.
Read the full Sentinel article here.
