Prowl

From one of our finest nature writers, a breathtaking glimpse into the inner world of America’s most mysterious predator: the mountain lion, which after its near-disappearance fifty years ago is quickly reclaiming its dominance over the continent, with profound—and surprising—implications for us all.

Graceful, majestic, and elusive, the mountain lion is the native big cat of the Americas. Long ago, they ranged from the brow of Canada to the bottom of Argentina, inspiring the awe of people who lived alongside them. Today, most of us only encounter them in headlines about grisly attacks on joggers or mountain bikers. But after nearly being eradicated in North America, these iconic predators are on their way back. The question is: can we learn to live with them again?

As acclaimed nature writer Craig Childs reveals in Prowl, mountain lion populations have rebounded in the American West after hunting was regulated half a century ago, and they are beginning to explore the rest of their ancestral lands. In 2011, a fully grown male was killed on a Connecticut turnpike within seventy miles of Manhattan; his DNA was tracked back to South Dakota. Verified sightings of kittens have been reported in Michigan and Oklahoma, places where mountain lions haven’t reproduced in a century. But before panicking, consider that, in the last hundred-fifty years, mountain lions have killed between thirty and forty people—the same number that cows gore, kick, or trample to death in a year or two. Consider, too, that these cats are critical “ecological brokers,” helpfully influencing a surprisingly wide array of other species, from directing animal herds to shaping how trees and grass grow. While mountain lions deserve our healthy respect, in short, they also come bearing gifts.

Drawing on Childs’s own decades-long experience with mountain lions while living off the grid in the American Southwest, as well as on original interviews with biologists, trackers, geologists, wildlife photographers, and other specialists, Prowl reveals how we can not only learn to coexist with these predators, but also learn from them. Curiosity. Caution. Courage. These and many other admirable attributes are the rules that mountain lions live by. If humans can adapt to that, we will be richer for it.