24-04-2025
Watch: South Bay mountain lion and cubs caught on camera
SAN JOSE, Calif. (KRON) — A Bay Area wildlife conservation photographer said 'all our dreams came true' after he and a friend recently captured a mountain lion with her cubs on a remote camera in the South Bay.
Vishal Subramanyan and Cynthia Cross had spent three years working to film and photograph mountain lions in the Diablo Range, according to Subramanyan. In February, one of their cameras set up with a motion sensor in the East Foothills of San Jose captured not only a mountain lion, but a mom with her three young cubs.
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The precious video shows the mom nursing her cubs as well as picking one up while the two others prance around the wooded area. The mountain lion family appeared in front of the camera for 20 minutes in total, Subramanyan said, calling it 'one of the most special moments we've ever captured.'
'Mountain lions are obviously an incredible species,' Subramanyan told KRON4. 'As an apex predator in the Bay Area, they play a really important role in top-down ecological effects. So seeing a healthy, thriving breeding population of mountain lions gives me a lot of hope, especially with a lot of negative news we see about our environment today.'
Subramanyan is a UC Berkeley graduate with degrees in ecology and statistics, and has worked with organizations such as the California Academy of Sciences, Peninsula Open Space Trust, and Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District.
Approximately 4,500 mountain lions are roaming across the state, according to the UC Davis California Mountain Lion Project.
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