iStockphoto / gguy44 / Klaus Brauner
Last week the Voyageurs Wolf Project in Minnesota released the first-ever footage of a mountain lion with cubs in the state of Minnesota, marking a milestone for cougars in that region. It was the first time in over 100 years that there has been confirmed evidence of cougar production in Minnesota.
This week, the Voyageurs Wolf Project has followed up the initial footage with another clip showing one of the mountain lion cubs.
New Footage Of Mountain Lion Cubs In Minnesota
The initial clip showing the multiple mountain lion kittens sharing a deer carcass with mom has now been viewed over 168K times on YouTube and many times over elsewhere on social media. In the new clip, we see one of the adorable mountain lion cubs eating the same deer carcass right in front of the trail camera.
Unlike the previous clip, this one shows just a single kitten and not the group together. This adorable mountain lion kitten also gets up close and personal withe camera and we get an incredibly look at this cougar.
Mountain Lions In Minnesota, How Rare Are They?
After this new footage gathered by the Voyageurs Wolf Project, the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources will presumably update its website even further. According to the site, mountain lions in Minnesota “are rarely seen but occasionally do appear.”
Furthermore, from the time period between 2004 and 2026, their database lists just 180 “detections” of mountain lions in the wilderness of Minnesota. They also attribute the vast majority of the “detections” to the same cat being spotted multiple times by different parties.
All of that in mind, mountain lions (or cougars) are rarely seen just about everywhere. The old adage goes something like ‘you only see them when they want you to know they are there’ because it is an animal that is always watching in silence. Even in states like California where sightings are more common they’re still rarely spotted. There are an estimated 5,000+ mountain lions in California and the Minnesota DNR states “a person is 1,000 times more likely to be struck by lightning than attacked by a cougar.”
Mountain lion attacks are extremely rare but they are also not unheard of. At the beginning oft his year, a woman in Colorado was killed in the first deadly cougar attack since 1999.
Here is that Minnesota mountain lion cub footage via Instagram so you can go smash the ‘follow’ button on the Voyageurs Wolf Project account:
Make sure to smash the ‘follow’ button on the Voyageurs Wolf Project page if you want to see more content from them!