Mountain Lions: Big Cats in High Places

00:00:31 This is North America's big cat.

00:04:06 the scientists of Panthera's Teton Cougar Project

00:06:10 ...and a female, who is affectionately known as Frostbite.

00:09:14 mountain lion speed you might say

00:11:15 "Easy-going" F51 has recently given birth to a new litter of kittens.

00:13:07 This one is three and a half pounds. That is small.

00:15:13 and being collared and clearly part of a scientific study

00:17:21 His nickname is a reference to a nearby creek

00:19:36 they finally reach the barking dogs late in the afternoon.

00:21:29 it's going to be actually a pretty good fit.

00:24:06 If these unusually low temperatures persist, Mark knows

00:26:23 So it's not surprising that F51's young family suffers another

00:29:18 and then this happened.

00:32:43 Something's going up and down here I want to look at.

00:34:21 How many times I've seen her in the wild, slipping around a corner.

00:36:50 making it difficult to pin-point their location.

00:39:08 They look great. They're healthy, they're stocky.

00:41:26 And, of course, she's following the natural terrain, just following the

00:44:43 Mark had not expected the kittens to survive longer than

00:48:45 Surprisingly, over the next few weeks she appears to put on weight.

00:50:49 Almost immediately a suspicious cluster of points

00:53:21 The project's work is also solving the riddle behind the dramatic

00:55:27 which means she could legally be hunted.

20:01:00 until they're 18 months old