The Santa Monica Mountains mountain range, part of the Transverse Ranges in Los Angeles and Ventura counties, currently supports 10 to 15 mountain lions (Puma concolor), despite much of the range being in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. The range has been home to mountain lions since prior to the arrival of Europeans, although their continued survival is threatened by several factors, the largest of which is the isolation of their habitat by freeways. In 2002, the National Park Service began tracking mountain lions in this area as part of decades-long study. The most notable lion in the study was P-22, which lived in Griffith Park, was photographed in front of the Hollywood Sign, was nicknamed "Hollywood Cat," and was featured on the cover of National Geographic. Other notable lions include P-1 ("King of the mountains"), P-2, P-12, P-19 ("Selfie Cat"), P-64 ("Culvert Cat"), and P-65 ("Coastal Cat").
Area
The Santa Monica Mountains extend approximately 40 miles (60 km) from the Hollywood Hills in Los Angeles to Point Mugu in Ventura County. Although heavily developed, much of the range has been preserved as local, state, or national parkland, the largest of which is the 153,075 acres (619.47 km2) Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area. Mountain lions are territorial and require ample acreage to find food and mates. The home range of a single mountain lion can be as large as 128,000 acres (520 km2); in the Santa Monica Mountains, a typical range is 96,000 acres (390 km2) for males and 32,000 acres (130 km2) for females. The National Park Service estimates that the Santa Monica Mountains can support 10 to 15 lions, not including kittens. The area is one of only two instances of large wild cats living in a megacity, the other being leopards in Mumbai, India.
History Mountain lions have lived in the Santa Monica Mountains since before the arrival of Europeans (the Gabrieleño/Tongva word for Puma concolor is tukuurot) and despite the range's relatively small area, the population has remained stable. Long term survival of mountain lions in the range is threatened by several factors, especially the isolation of their habitat by freeways. This isolation, which started when the Ventura Freeway was constructed in the 1950s and was exacerbated by housing developments alongside it, has led to inbreeding, as the area now has almost no new DNA entering it. Genetic analyses in the 2000s revealed that the Santa Monica Mountains mountain lion population had the second lowest level of genetic diversity ever documented amongst large carnivores in North America, the lowest being Florida panthers in the mid-1990s.
Other threats to the Santa Monica Mountains mountain lion population include wildlife-vehicle collisions, anticoagulant rodenticides, and intraspecific conflict. According to the National Park Service, 32 mountain lions in or near the Santa Monicas were killed by wildlife-vehicle collisions between 2002 and 2022; 28 of 29 mountain lions tested for anticoagulant compounds tested positive, including seven fatal cases; and intraspecific conflict, while common in the species, is exacerbated by the small and now isolated nature of the Santa Monicas.
In 2016, researchers from the National Park Service, UCLA, UC Davis, and Utah State University predicted that without significant changes, the Santa Monica Mountains mountain lions could become extinct within 50 years. In 2020, researchers found the first evidence of physical abnormalities in the population. The Wallis Annenberg Wildlife Crossing, which will connect the Santa Monica Mountains across US-101 to the Simi Hills, is meant to prevent this. The crossing, which cost $90 million ($99 million in 2025), most of which was raised through private donations, broke ground in 2022. It is expected to be completed in 2026, at which point it will become the largest wildlife crossing in the world.
Legal protections The California Wildlife Protection Act, which banned the hunting of mountain lions throughout California, passed in 1990. Mountain lions in the Santa Monica and Santa Ana Mountains were given even more protection in 2020, when the California Fish and Game Commission voted to give them temporary protection under the Endangered Species Act. Since 2002, only one mountain lion is known to have been poached in the Santa Monica Mountains. Additional legal protection for mountain lions throughout California was provided in 2020, when the state passed the California Ecosystems Protection Act. This law prohibits most uses of second-generation anticoagulant rodenticides statewide and all use of first generation anticoagulant rodenticides on state-owned land.
Diet Mountain lions in the Santa Monica Mountains primarily dine on mule deer. According to a spokeswoman for the National Park Service, of the more than 400 documented kills by mountain lions in the area between 2002 and 2014, 95% were mule deer; according to the National Park Service's website, 87% of more than 700 kills were mule deer. Coyotes are the second most common prey of mountain lions in the area, and raccoons are third. Mountain lions typically eat about one deer per week, while other prey is eaten sporadically as opportunity arises.
Individual mountain lions In 2002, the National Park Service began tracking individual mountain lions in the Santa Monica Mountains and surrounding areas. More than 100 mountain lions have been tracked since.
Santa Monica Mountains Notable individuals whose home range was in the Santa Monica Mountains include:
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