‘Stalk And Pounce’ Hunting Method Of Mountain Lions Dissected By UC Santa Cruz Scientists

Scientist at the University of California, Santa Cruz say they now know much more about how Mountain Lions conserve energy to stalk, pounce and overpower their prey, thanks to the help of a wildlife tracking collar. The GPS device – known as the SMART Wildlife Collar – includes accelerometers that tell researchers “not just where an animal is but what it is doing and how much its activities “cost” in terms of energy expenditure,” says a release from UC Santa Cruz. “What’s really exciting is that we can now say, here’s the cost of being a mountain lion in the wild and what they need in terms of calories to live in this environment,” said study lead author Terrie Williams, a professor of ecology and evolutionary biology at UC Santa Cruz. “Understanding the energetics of wild animals moving in complex environments is valuable information for developing better wildlife management plans.” Williams’ research team first studied the cats in captivity, using treadmills to monitor oxygen consumption at different speeds. The process of training the cougars to actually use the treadmill took about three years...more

Three years to train a cat to use a treadmill.  That "SMART Collar" certainly wasn't on these profs.  Somebody needs  to "stalk and pounce" on this project and defund the sucker.