A young female mountain lion emerged from her home range this week in California’s Santa Monica Mountains and successfully crossed eight lanes of the 101 freeway near the Ventura County town of Camarillo.  This was good news, not only that she survived a mammoth Southern California freeway monument but also that her journey portends a glimmer of optimism for the general survival of mountain lions in the area.

Also known as cougars or pumas, the expedition of this particular mountain lion, named P-33, marks only the second time scientists with the United States’ National Park Service recorded a successful crossing of the highway since they began looking at such things in 2002. It was in 2009 that male P-12 (P33’s father) made the crossing in Agoura Hills. Unfortunately, a young male in 2013 was not as lucky when he was struck and killed by a vehicle in the same area.

GPS data reported that P-33 made the crossing at the Conejo Grade sometime between 12:01 a.m. and 2:00 a.m. on Monday, March 9. Scientists see this as a big deal because the ability of the mountain lions to enter new territories (and thus mate with fresh genetic stock) is known to be critical to the long-term genetic health of the population.

Wildlife biologists from the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area (SMMNRA) have studied 35 pumas thus far. Along with her two siblings, P-33 has been monitored since she was four weeks old. Ideally, P-33 would eventually find a mate that is genetically unrelated somewhere on the other side of the Highway 101. She will likely want to make her way into the more remote Santa Susana Mountains further north, but scientists are now concerned she will have difficulty navigating the narrow habitat area she just crossed into.

GPS records show that mountain lions will often approach the edges of enormous freeways but then, likely after not sensing safety, turn around. This pattern has been seen for over a decade so it was exciting for the team from SMMNRA to see a big feline make it happen.