Bobcats however are typically either incapable or uninclined to actually crush the brain case of even small mesocarnivore prey such as mink, and instead with their kills you tend to find intact skulls with canine puncture marks in the brain case. In fact, on mesocarnivores killed by mountain lions it is common to find the entire snout and nose left perfectly intact, with the skull crunched and eaten from the orbits backwards. ![]() However, when feeding on deer kills mountain lions often feed on the nose, crunching off the distal ends of the nasal, premaxillae and turbinate bones, but these parts are ignored on mesocarnivores. And just as is the case with larger prey such as deer, the bonier parts of the skull including the supraoccipital plate and the palate with rows of molars are ignored. Mountain lions are generally not keen on eating tails, which promise a mouthful of hair and bone and not much meat, so these are typically found almost completely intact, and it is unusual for a lion to consume any more than the proximal 1/3 of the tail which has more meat. For medium-sized critters however, such as foxes, raccoons, fishers and house cats there is a typical appearance to the sign left by feeding mountain lions, where the tail, digestive organs, and fragments of the skull remain. Very small animals such as chipmunks, mice, warblers, voles and woodrats may be eaten in their entirety, making interpretation of the sign and confirmation of predation difficult or impossible. Mountain lions still pluck at least some of the hair from small kills, though the smaller the prey item the less hair is plucked. When mountain lions feed on mesocarnivores and other small prey such as rabbits or small domestic animals, the feeding sign can be quite different from large ungulate kills, but several of the rules outlined above remain true. Lions tend to drag their kills downhill, and it is common for them to end up in the bottom of a drainage or right next to a creek. For adult deer kills in the mountains of the Pacific Northwest somewhere between 40 and 150 yards seems normal, although I have seen instances where lions carried prey much farther. How far a mountain lion will drag a kill depends on the terrain, how near the closest suitable cover is, and how large the kill is. This behavior serves at least 3 purposes: 1) reduces the visible detectability of the carcass, 2) provides shade which minimizes spoilage of the meat and thereby reduces the olfactory detectability of the carcass, and 3) provides the mountain lion with shelter from the elements as it feeds. Mountain lions generally like to feed under some sort of cover if available, which can be a rock overhang, a willow thicket, or a stand of dense young firs. If the carcass is small enough for them to move (anything deer-sized or smaller) than they will almost always drag it to a sheltered place to feed. Hiding refers to the overall placement of the carcass on the landscape, which mountain lions are quite particular about.
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