Minnesota cougar population reproduction evidence caught on camera

Cougar population rebounding in Minnesota

The University of Minnesota’s Voyageurs Wolf Project has captured video evidence of the cougar population reproducing in Minnesota for the first time in 100 years.

INTERNATIONAL FALLS, Minn. (FOX 9) - For the first time in over a century, researchers have documented evidence of cougars reproducing in Minnesota, thanks to video footage showing a mother and her three kittens.

Voyageurs Wolf Project cameras captures cougar family

What we know:

The University of Minnesota’s Voyageurs Wolf Project captured high-quality video of a female cougar and three large kittens south of Voyageurs National Park. The footage, taken by trail cameras set up over a GPS-collared deer, was shared with the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, and can be viewed in the player above.

The Voyageurs Wolf Project has deployed hundreds of trail cameras in northeast Minnesota for wolf research, and while lone cougars have been recorded eight times since 2023, this is the first time kittens have been seen.

What they're saying:

"Looking at the footage was and still is surreal. We never anticipated seeing four cougars together in northern Minnesota," project lead Thomas Gable said in a statement. "In total, we captured around four hours of footage of this cougar family at the kill, and it was fascinating to see and hear their interactions — the mother grooming her kittens, the kittens growling and hissing at each other. We feel incredibly fortunate we were able to capture such a wild moment in such detail."

"Based on traits observed in the video, we estimate the kittens to be 7 to 9 months old, so born last fall," John Erb, a research biologist with the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR) said in a statement. Erb noted the only other confirmed kittens in Minnesota were captive escapees found in 2001.

Cougars returning to Minnesota

The backstory:

Cougars were once native to Minnesota, but became locally extinct, according to the DNR.

For more than 100 years that followed, there had been no evidence of reproduction in the eastern Midwest, east of the Dakotas and Nebraska, until recent reports surfaced from Michigan and now Minnesota.

Cougars can travel more than 40 miles in a day, and those seen in Minnesota have typically been transient animals from western South Dakota, North Dakota or Nebraska.

Even in states with resident populations, cougars are rarely seen and almost always avoid human contact. The new footage offers a glimpse into the lives of these elusive animals and suggests a possible return of cougars to their historical range.

Dig deeper:

Cougars are protected in Minnesota, and there is no open hunting season.

Public safety officials may only take lethal action if a cougar poses an immediate threat.