Yellowstone Cougar Project

Project Overview

The Yellowstone Cougar Project monitors Yellowstone’s top feline predator — the elusive cougar — by integrating year-round field work with cutting-edge tools. This project aims to understand population trends, predation patterns, habitat selection, and behavior using tools like GPS accelerometer collars, remote cameras, and noninvasive genetic surveys. This knowledge helps answer questions regarding the role cougars play in predator-prey dynamics, competition with wolves and bears, and how Yellowstone’s predator diversity influences the park’s ecology. There are few places left to truly understand how carnivores coexist, compete, interact, and impact their ecosystem.

Much of the project’s efforts rely on around 140 remote cameras strategically placed across northern Yellowstone for population monitoring. See below for remote camera footage captured of these captivating carnivores. A majority of these remote cameras were generously donated to the Cougar Project by the fStop Foundation.

January 2025 Winter Study Update

The team was able to successfully capture and collar three cougars in January, two females and one male, and are hoping to collar one additional cougar this winter. All three are roughly aged 3 ½ years old. The male weighed 151 lbs. while the females weighed 102 lbs. and 84 lbs. These cougars join two other GPS collared adult female cougars as part of the project’s population and predation monitoring studies.

These new individuals will now be part of winter and summer predation studies, searching clustered locations for prey remains. Additionally, their collar data will allow the team to monitor reproduction, home range movements, and interactions with competitors like wolves and bears and prey like elk, deer, sheep, and pronghorn.

History

Cougars, along with wolves, were killed throughout the U.S. as part of predator removal campaigns in the early 1900s. Cougars were eliminated from the park around the same time wolves were in the 1930s, but the species overall survived in the West. Working in their favor were the large cat’s secretive nature and preference for rugged terrain where they are difficult to detect.

The cougar is one of the largest cats in North America and native to the Greater Yellowstone. They are rarely seen, but Yellowstone contains the perfect habitat for cougars. After a 50-year absence, they reestablished a viable, year-round population in northern Yellowstone in the 1980s. This natural reestablishment occurred during a period of high elk abundance and wolf absence, resulting in relatively rapid population growth. With the cougars’ homecoming, in addition to wolf re-introduction in the mid-1990s, Yellowstone returned to being an intact ecosystem with all its native, large carnivores back on the landscape. 

How You Can Help

Since 2014, Yellowstone Forever has provided the primary support for the Yellowstone Cougar Project. The Yellowstone Cougar Project relies on donations from Yellowstone Forever members, foundations, and corporate partners to supply the technology and support the skilled field staff need to complete this crucial research each year.

Ongoing support is critical to the efficacy of this important work and our understanding of these remarkable animals.

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