Animal experts from the National Park Service (NPS) have found two young mountain lions in a den located in the western portion of the Santa Monica Mountains, Tech Times reports.
The researchers found one male and one female kitten, which they designated as P-46 and P-47.
"We continue to see successful reproduction, which indicates that the quality of the natural habitat is high for such a relatively urbanized area," Jeff Sikich, a biologist from the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area, said, National Park Service reports.
"But these kittens have many challenges ahead of them, from evading other mountain lions, to crossing freeways, to dealing with exposure to rat poison."
The researchers have implanted the kittens with electronic trackers that will allow them to monitor both animals in the wild. The lions' den was located in a secluded part of the mountains surrounded by large boulders and dense vegetation.
According to the researchers, the two kittens seem to be the offspring of a female mountain lion with the designation P-19, as her GPS location was in the area of the lions' den over a three-week period.
According to Kate Kuykendall, a spokesperson for the National Park Service.
"Many people are surprised that right outside of the second largest city in the country, we have enough open space to support a carnivore of this size," she said, according to ABC News.
"This is good news for the mountain lion population in the Santa Monica Mountains."
P-19 first gave birth to two litters that were sired by her own father, designated as P-12. P-46 and P-47 are now undergoing DNA testing in order to find out whether they were also sired by P-19's father, or if they are the litter of another adult male lion, P-45.
Inbreeding among the mountain lions of the Santa Monica Mountains is a threat to their long-term survival because their population is limited to only an island of habitat.
