Some very special footage was recently captured by the Voyageurs Wolf Project in Voyageurs National Park.
Trail cameras that were set up caught what is the first documented evidence of mountain lion reproduction in Minnesota in more than a century. The organization sets up trail cameras all throughout the woods in northern Minnesota, mainly to keep an eye on the wolf population there. In doing so, they’ve gathered proof of nearly a dozen lions, also known as cougars, wandering in the area in the last three years.
When researchers found a dear carcass, they suspected that it was killed by a wild feline, and immediately assumed it was a bobcat (the most common wildcat in the state). So they set up trail cameras facing the carcass, and waited. They were stunned when the cameras not only caught a danger kitty feeding on the carcass… but a family of danger kitties:
“Without a doubt, our best trail camera capture yet: the first documented observation of a cougar with kittens in Minnesota in modern history. The footage, which was captured on March 25, shows a cougar with thee large kittens while they feed on a deer they killed just south of Voyageurs National Park.
We captured this surreal footage because we started a study to understand the survival and mortality patterns of deer in our area this winter. As part of that work, we GPS-collared several deer in the area in January. In late March, we received a mortality signal from a GPS-collared deer and found the carcass buried under a pile of leaves on a hillside—a tell tale sign of feline predation.”
As I stated earlier, they assumed it was the work of a bobcat.
But because they had witnessed mountain lions moving through the area in recent years, they wanted to confirm what kind of feline had taken down the deer. That’s why they opted to put up the multiple trail cameras near the carcass, and it didn’t take long for them to capture the mountain lion family:
“We put up two trail cameras on the cached deer carcass and 4 hours later, two cougar kittens returned to the kill. The entire family showed up that evening and spent hours in front of our cameras. In total, we captured 7.3 hr (435 minutes) of video footage of these animals. We will share more footage soon!
Huge thanks to the Minnesota Environment and Natural Resources Trust Fund for supporting the Voyageurs Wolf Project and the recent effort to understand deer survival in the area. Their support was critical to this observation—without it, we would never have captured this footage.”
In the footage, the mother and her three cougar kittens – believed to be between seven and nine months old – can be seen feeding on the carcass, purring, hissing and growling at one another, and even grooming and laying next to one another. It’s truly remarkable, especially when you consider there hasn’t been evidence of the wild cats breeding in the state of Minnesota in more than 100 years.
You can watch the discovery of the Voyageurs Wolf Project below:
The Voyageurs Wolf Project has a way with capturing infant animal videos.
It was back in 2021 when the organization that focuses primarily on wolf research excitedly shared footage of wolf pups that were caught on trail camera just four weeks after they were born:
