Mountain Lion Looks for A Mate in Los Angeles

(Photo : wikipedia.org)

A mountain lion named "P22" was spotted crossing two dangerous freeways to get to Los Angeles to mate.

The mountain lion, also known as the "Hollywood Lion," crossed the 101 freeway that splits California's Santa Monica Mountains some 30 miles away from Griffith Park, National Public Radio (NPR) reported.

The lions that live in isolation in the Santa Monica Mountains were the subject of a recent study published in Current Biology.

Based on the study, conservationists said "mountain lions become dangerously in-bred as genetic diversity diminishes in the population."

National Park Service wildlife ecologist Seth Riley and his colleagues monitor GPS-tagged big cats on the two sides of the freeway to track their numbers.

The ecologists saw P22, a male lion, from the north "making its way across the freeway to join the secluded Santa Monica cats".

P22 survived crossing the freeway and became a dominant breeding male. The big cat had many offspring and continues to procreate, Riley said in a statement.

One male lion, however, is n't enough to fix the extensive inbreeding problem plaguing the big cats. Most mountain lions can't cross the freeway due to heavy traffic, structures, barriers, walls and fencing.

Other lions have tried crossing the freeway. One was hit by a car while other turned away from unknown reasons. Others "might have initially made it across the traffic - but got turned around at a retaining wall and was struck going back across the freeway," Riley added.

An "innovative" wildlife overpass covered in plants could be a path for many animals including mountain lions to cross the 101 freeway, conservationists said. "The vegetative cover will not only help the lions to cross the freeway, but other species as well and the human population that intend to get across to the freeway," they added.

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