Mountain Lion

The Mountain Lion is a rare, shy, and elusive.
If yo go from Eagle Rock Picnic Grounds, in Topanga State Park, cross a ravine, and turn forward-left, you will come to a glade. In this glade I have observed cougar scat. Go forward-right and up a hill, you will com to the Simi Planes. In this vast grassland, I have also seen cougar scat and, once, a cougar. You run 2 or 300 yards forward to a cement pathway. You follow this left and it takes you back to where you originated.

Cougars are one of the increasingly rarer mammals in Los Angeles County, and they have two last large refuges: Topanga State Park and Malibu- Simi Wildlife corridor.

Haven to the Topanga Mountain Lion!!!!!!! 

Bobcat

Cascades Bobcat in
North Bend, Washington

The Bobcat is a small, adaptable feline. Its' range is from Southern Canada to Southern Mexico. They are most common during summer frost in the southeast (from Texas and Oklahoma in the west to Florida, north to North Carolina, and through Tennessee to Oklahoma.) I have seen them in suburban Atlanta.

4 subspecies occur in California: The Valley, Desert, Mojave, and the Cascades Bobcats. The Valley Bobcat occurs the whole California west of the Sierra Nevada. The Desert and Mojave have the same basic range, but the Desert Bobcat extends into the south White Mountains and Sierra Nevada (mostly Inyo County).

Here are some articles about Bobcats in California:

Desert Bobcat Attack: Death Valley 

Swans in Southern California

There are two species of Swan in California:the Trumpeter and Tundra Swans. The one we are going to focus on is the Trumpeter Swans.

In the late 1900's, Trumpeters were gone from California. In 2004, a couple Trumpeters were sighted near Santa Barbara. On December 4, 2005, a Trumpeter was sighted near the city of San Fernando. Finally, a Trumpeter was spotted on Piute Ponds, Los Angeles Co. on January 19, 2012.

Links:

Trumpeter Swan: Santa Barabara

Whitetail Deer

The rarest of mammals in California are the Whitetail deer. The rest of the New World, from Northern Canada to South Peru, is the domain of his animal.

The three subspecies are the Columbian, Coues, and Idaho Whitetail Deer. The Idaho Whitetail is the most widespread, ranging from Modoc County to El Dorado County, and a buck shot at Topaz Lake, Mono County, in the 1890's. The Coues was wiped out from the Colorado River Valley in 1984. The Columbian is the rarest of the lot, and doesn't live in California. You can still see Idaho Whitetail, though they are the last of the Whitetails in California.

Whitetail  

Asiatic Cheetah

The Asiatic Cheetah is a subspecies of Cheetah, and was driven to the brink of extinction. Today, only 75-100 Cheetahs live in the un-fragmented areas in western Pakistan and eastern Iran. In the 1940's, the Cheetah was driven out of India. Reintroduction projects are starting in southern Russia. The other locations are in the states of Rajasthan, Gujarat, Madhya Predesh, Chhatisgarh, Karnataka, and Kerala in India.

Here are some links about the Asiatic Cheetah:

Asiatic Cheetah

Asiatic Lion

The Asiatic Lion is  locally common pest in the Gir Forest National Park, Gujarat State, India. The Lion differs from it's African counterpart by a bigger tuft of fur on the tail, and a smaller mane.

This subspecies of lion originally ranged from parts of Iran, Greece, and Bulgaria in the east, to India's border with Nepal in the west, south to the northern Deccan Peninsula, and north to Turkey. It was hunted to the brink of extinction, and in the 1940's, was protected by the king of a part of Gujarat. His private hunting grounds were the areas in and around present-day Gir Forest.

Since 1974, the Asiatic Lion population in Gir Forest has grown from 180 individuals to 411 individuals, which were 97 adult males, 162 adult females, 75 sub-adults, and 77 cubs.

Here are some links about the Asiatic Lion:

India's Lions:Wall Street Journal