The tiny mountain lion cub walked clumsily, its meow a high-pitched squeak, rather than a threatening roar.
A latest addition to Orange County’s wildlife population was captured on camera in south Orange County – an insanely adorable baby mountain believed to be no more than a 1 month old.
Wildlife photographer Mark Girardeau, creator of Orange County Outdoors, caught the animal on his trail cam navigating the area about a week ago, only seeing the footage two days ago when he checked what the camera had videotaped recently.
“I was freaking out — whose cub is that, where did it come from?” Girardeau said of when he first saw the footage.
Then he saw Maple, a larger female lioness whose belly was saggy, sauntering by in another clip a short time later, indicating she’s likely the cub’s mother.
Girardeau has become familiar with the local mountain lion population through the years, capturing many of them on his trail cameras set on private property throughout the region, at times teaming up with UC Davis to add data to its long-term research projects on the species.
He even came face-to-face twice with mountain lion Uno, resulting in unexpected stand-offs with the big cat. Later, he mourned the same lion after it was struck and killed by a car in Trabuco Canyon in 2024.
Only a few times has he captured cubs on camera, but mostly several months after they are born. This one is the youngest he’s ever caught on film.
As he looked back at footage from recent months, he noticed Maple’s belly growing.
“Usually mountain lions cover a huge area. But considering she was hanging out day after day, that makes sense,” he said. “I had no idea this was going on.”
In more recent footage, her belly was deflated and saggy, he said, indicating she had given birth.
“She likely made a den nearby, I don’t know how many she had in her litter, but mostly likey she went out to hunt and this little one got curious and wanted to go out to explore,” he said. “It’s super cute, how it’s meowing.”
Maple came back a short time after, Girardeau said, but he is worried about not seeing the cub and mom together in the footage and hopes they were reunited.
Another mountain lion, known as F390, believed to be mother to two young ones, was struck and killed earlier this month off Ortega Highway.
So seeing a cub in the region is welcome news to the struggling species, which has been impacted by human development in recent decades, limiting their travel and ability to thrive, Girardeau said.
“Every single mountain lion cub that you see, it just helps the whole population here,” he said. “There’s not many mountain lions here, every cub you see is a positive outlook for the population. The longer we can extend them being here, the better. There’s only so much genetic diversity here, they are basically inbreeding because there’s no other mountain lions that can get in and out of the area.”
There have been more than 140 known fatalities since 1995, about half from vehicles, in the Santa Ana mountain range, according to UC Davis data. From 2005 to present, there have been more than 40 deaths from vehicles.
Girardeau said he hopes as people learn more and realize the impacts of humans on the big cat species, more will be done to protect them, such as adding more wildlife bridges across major highways so they can have safe passage in and out of the area.
“I wish more people would focus on the protecton of animals that have always called this place home,” he said. “I wish more efforts were given to the animals, to protect them.”
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