Mountain lion tracked by biologists gives birth to 3 healthy kittens in wilderness outside Los Angeles

In this photograph provided by the National Park Service, a female mountain lion kitten is shown in Simi Hills, northwest of Los Angeles, Thursday May 18, 2023.

A mountain lion studied by biologists in wilderness areas near Los Angeles has given birth to three healthy kittens, the National Park Service said Thursday.

The three females estimated to be a month old were found May 18 nestled in a patch of poison oak in the Simi Hills area about 40 miles (65 km) northwest of downtown LA, the park service said in a statement.

They were born to a 5-year-old cougar dubbed P-77 that has been tracked since November 2019. Scientists are calling the babies P-113, P-114 and P-115.

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National Park Service photo

The father isn't immediately known. Biologists aren't currently following any male cougars in P-77's habitat, so they suspect the father might have come from nearby mountains and then went back.

P-77 makes her home in an area between the 101 and 118 freeways overlapping the Santa Monica and Santa Susana mountain ranges.

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National Park Service photo

It's the third mountain lion litter found in the Simi Hills in recent years. P-62 gave birth in 2018 and P-67 delivered a litter in 2020, officials said.

The park service has been studying mountain lions since 2002 in and around the Santa Monica Mountains to determine how they survive in a fragmented and urbanized environment.