A cougar comeback might be happening all the way north in Minnesota.
The Voyageurs Wolf Project (@VoyageursWolfProject) YouTube account shared footage of the first modern-era sighting of a cougar mother raising kittens in the state near Voyageurs National Park.
The trail camera video from March 25 shows an adult female cougar with three healthy-looking kittens feeding on a deer carcass.
The victim was GPS-collared as part of a study on the animal's survival and mortality. Once the GPS triggered a mortality alarm, the project deployed additional cameras to investigate the scene.
The researchers were taken aback that the culprits were a young family of cougars, as Quetico Superior Wilderness News reported.
"Looking at the footage was and still is surreal," project lead Thomas Gable told the publication. "We never anticipated seeing four cougars together in northern Minnesota."
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In all, about four hours of footage were logged in total. That included scenes of the mother cleaning the kittens while the large young cats snarled at one another and roughhoused.
The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources said this is the first evidence of cougar reproduction in Minnesota in at least 100 years. John Erb, a DNR research scientist, suggested to Quetico Superior that the kittens were around 7 to 9 months old, meaning they were likely born in the fall.
While it's too early to tell if this could lead to a prosperous future for cougars in the state, it does provide a glimmer of hope. Previous cougar sightings in Minnesota were of lone males, and it's considered unlikely that this mother cougar was a migrant.
"These kittens might not survive, potentially getting killed by wolves, a male cougar or vehicles," Erb conceded. "They may also become part of the founding catalyst for a slow but steady increase in numbers."
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Commenters on YouTube were certainly hoping for the latter.
One gushed: "Great job, cougar mama! Three beautiful, healthy, well-fed babies! I love hearing all their surprising sounds — especially their purring and their high, squeaky chirps."
"They are spectacular," another said. "It's a special privilege to see one, let alone this beautiful family."
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