Epilogue 135Once the recolonization of the Black Hills began, the lion population exhibited
characteristics that have been documented for other species, such as white- tailed deer,
which in the Black Hills came to represent the primary prey of this predator. Other
studies have documented the large litter size (up to six kittens [Anderson 1983]) and
a high rate of increase (Logan and Sweanor 2000) for the species, so it should not have
been surprising that, given sufficient prey, population expansion could be rapid. There-
fore, once enough individuals colonize an area, such as the Black Hills, little time
elapses before a population of sufficient size develops. At low population size, males
seem to traverse large expanses to seek out and mate with females, which seem to be
poorly defended, based on the few battle scars documented on the first males captured
during our studies. Kittens have relatively high survival, possibly because of the di-
verse prey resources that occur in the Black Hills region. During initial establishment,
figure E.1. Ponderosa pine trees provide ubiquitous sites that are used
by mountain lions to hide from recreationalists in the Black Hills.
Photo by Emily Mitchell.