Mountain Lions of the Black Hills

Genetics of Mountain Lions 109

lions that began in the state of Wyoming along the Colorado border and continued
through eastern Wyoming to the southern Black Hills (fig. 7.3).
As mentioned, while occupying the Black Hills, some dispersal- age lions would tra-
verse the border of the Black Hills. Some headed along the western edge of the region
and then left the Black Hills to head north (both northwest [based on radio- collared
lions] and northeast [based on radio- collared lions and ge ne tic analyses]). The ge ne-
tic results seem to almost establish a boundary for these movements, but the unique
alleles in lions inhabiting the North Dakota Badlands and other movements of lions
out of the Black Hills would indicate that the conduit did not have absolute western

figure 7.3. Conduit of movement of mountain lions into and out of the Black Hills,
based on past and recent studies of ge ne tics. This conduit is not absolute, since mountain
lions from other populations to the west and potentially to the north contributed
ge ne tic material to both Black Hills and Badlands populations. Nevertheless, the conduit
illustrates the degree of movement that occurs across the distribution of the species as
well as the negligible effect of po liti cal bound aries on these patterns.