44 2022 Annual Report
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Conservation
M o u n t a i n l i o n r e s e a r c h u p d a t e
While Nebraska Game and Parks has known mountain lions can
travel hundreds of miles and to any portion of Nebraska for decades,
our research program didn't know just how far they move across
the landscape. That changed in 2022 with the dispersal of one male
mountain lion on the search for a mate or a home range of his own.
In July, a video showed of a GPS-collared mountain lion at the
western edge of Lincoln; that lion had been trapped and collared
in the Niobrara River Valley near Valentine in 2021. This lion kept
moving, first to Iowa and then to Illinois, providing data regarding its
movement patterns and use of habitat the entire way. It made it as
far as Springfield, where Illinois wildlife officials immobilized it and
moved it to a big cat sanctuary in Indiana. This was one of the furthest
documented dispersals for a GPS-collared mountain lion.
Staff will continue to collar young mountain lions to continue
learning more about their dispersal and movements.
Mountain lion collaring
at Ponderosa WMA
