Teton Cougar Project

Overview

In partnership with Craighead Berinigia South, we are carrying out the Teton Cougar Project to analyze cougar population dynamics, behavior and interactions with other carnivores, and human communities, all to help construct effective conservation measures for this species.

Panthera's Cougar Expert

Now in its eleventh year, the Teton Cougar Project was co-founded by Dr. Howard Quigley, Panthera's Cougar Expert and Executive Director of the Jaguar Program. Working with Craighead Beringia South field staff, Dr. Quigley collars and monitors cougars to better understand their population dynamics, dispersal, mortality, predation, and behavior, as well as how to mitigate human-cougar conflicts.

Cougar-Carnivore Interactions

To better understand the complicated relationship between cougars and other carnivores in the Teton region, we are studying and comparing the range use and prey selection of cougars, wolves, grizzly bears and black bears.
Understanding America's Big Cat

Male cougar walking through the snow, Teton MountainsPanthera partners with Craighead Beringia South to conduct research on cougars north of Jackson, Wyoming. For ten years, Howard Quigley, Panthera’s Executive Director of Jaguar Programs and Cougar expert, and Derek Craighead, President of Craighead Beringia South, have directed field research that has intensively tracked and studied both collared and non-collared cougars to understand their movements, population dynamics, predator-prey relationships, and their interaction with other large predators, including wolves, grizzly bears and black bears.

A coyote, one predator with which cougars share land and prey The project also focuses on studying cougar behavior in areas largely populated by humans. By comparing cougar behavior in protected areas to their behavior in areas with human development, the Teton Cougar Project can help people better understand the conservation needs of these animals in both conditions.

Results from the Teton Cougar Project will be applied to other cougar populations in the United States  and  other countries where cougars lives, impacting cougar conservation range-wide.

Learn more about the Teton Cougar Project on Assignment Earth.

Visit the Craighead Beringia South website.

Read Panthera's Cougar Report Card: The State of the Cougar.

Click here to: Meet the Cougar

cougar Programs
Bison in the Teton Mountains Teton Cougar Project | Understanding America's Big Cat
Cougar sitting in tree California Cougar Project | Researching Cougar Habitats

Panthera on the Ground

Dr. Luke Hunter and Dr. Howard Quigley lead a team to re-collar a young male cougar

In February 2010, Panthera’s President, Dr. Luke Hunter, and Jaguar Program Director, Dr. Howard Quigley, led a team of scientists through the snowy hills of Wyoming to re-collar a young male cougar that Quigley has been monitoring for the past four years. The team took hair samples from the cougar to learn more about his diet, and measured and weighed the cougar to assess his overall health. After a comprehensive check-up, the team replaced the cougar’s collar and released him back into the wild, where his movements will be closely tracked to help determine his movement, ecological requirements, and population dynamics, until his next check-up.

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How you can help cougars right now: