As part of a long-running study, biologists for the National Park Service caught the program’s 300th bobcat in the Santa Monica Mountains, according to a release from NPS.
The program, which began in 1996, studies bobcat behavior, conservation, ecology and the impact of urbanization on bobcat populations in the Santa Monica Mountains and Simi Hills. It’s the lengthiest bobcat study ever conducted, according to NPS.
Biologists catch and sedate the animals, give them radio collars, measure their bodies and take blood and tissue samples. There are also several remote cameras used in the mountains to track bobcats. Most of the 300 creatures were caught in Thousand Oaks, Agoura Hills and Westlake Village.
“The benefit of this kind of long-term research is that it gives us the chance to observe changes and trends in the population that may not be seen over a few years,” said Joanne Moriarty, an ecologist for Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area.
The study has helped researchers discover a deadly mange epidemic.
“Mange, caused by a microscopic parasitic mite, is a severe skin condition that can lead to death. The disease peaked between 2003 and 2006 in the Simi Hills area, during which time more than 50 percent of radio-collared bobcats died as a result of the condition, overtaking vehicular collisions as the leading cause of death among the local population,” according to NPS.
The study also helped track how often the cats are exposed to anti-coagulant rat poisons.
For more information on the study, visit www.nps.gov/samo.