The Cougar Conundrum

Sharing the World with a Successful Predator

By: Mark Elbroch

Narrated by: Danny Campbell

Length: 7 hrs and 22 mins

Publisher's summary

The relationship between humans and mountain lions has always been uneasy. A century ago, mountain lions were vilified as a threat to livestock and hunted to the verge of extinction. Its recovery has led to an unexpected conundrum: Do more mountain lions mean they're a threat to humans and domestic animals? Or, are mountain lions still in need of our help and protection as their habitat dwindles and they're forced into the edges and crevices of communities to survive?

Mountain lion biologist and expert Mark Elbroch welcomes these tough questions. He dismisses long-held myths about mountain lions and uses groundbreaking science to uncover important new information about their social habits. Elbroch argues that humans and mountain lions can peacefully coexist in close proximity if we ignore uninformed hype and instead arm ourselves with knowledge and common sense. He walks us through the realities of human safety in the presence of mountain lions, livestock safety, competition with hunters for deer and elk, and threats to rare species, dispelling the paranoia with facts and logic.

The Cougar Conundrum delivers a clear-eyed assessment of a modern wildlife challenge, offering practical advice for wildlife managers, conservationists, hunters, and those in the wildland-urban interface who share their habitat with large predators.

©2020 Mark Elbroch (P)2021 Tantor

Exciting and educational

Loved the information about these amazing animals. I have been working along side them for a little bit but now will be working directly with them and this was a GREAT start for resources and information about this incredible species.

Great scientist and commincator

It's not often that scientists are also great writers. Being able to effectively communicate such a complex topic to the general public is a great feat. Especially in academia when most discussions and writing is more nuanced with technical language and an audience already educated on the topic.
Anyone who gives this a one star review was only interested in reinforcing their own beliefs and not the actual information and messages from the book.

One of the best books on mountain lions

I've followed Mr. Elbroch's work for over a decade and consider him to be one of the foremost experts in the field of mountain lion ecology. I myself am a trained ecologist and spent a few years chasing the big cats around the Santa Cruz Mountains on a study that Mr. Elbroch references a few times in the book. I am glad he wrote the Cougar Conundrum, as it is a badly needed book in an era of ever increasing misinformation about predators. He does an excellent job clearing up hundreds of misconceptions about mountain lions, conservation, and wildlife management. In contrast to the anecdotes of many books and articles written about predators in recent years, Mr. Elbroch's opinions have been shaped by many decades of research experience. He has the data to support his claims, and he makes a strong argument for the improvement of mountain lion conservation by involving a greater diversity of stakeholders in the decision making process.

I recommend this book to anyone who is curious about the management, science, and politics of wildlife on the United States.

Great Book

Very long, but enjoyably comprehensive. Loved the anecdotes sprinkled throughout. only thing i didn't like was how political it became at the very end, presuming that the reader supports a democratic approach to handling wildlife (as opposed to, say, supporting what's deemed best by the scientific authorities on the animal).

Informative and interesting, but obviously biased

Overall, an enjoyable, informative audiobook. However, the author does seem to use se misleading language and provide information out of full context when talking about state wildlife agencies management of cougars (ie restitution benefits given to ranchers for livestock loss). The author also makes heavy assumptions about the motivations and intentions of various interest groups in Chapter 8 (ie stating that "naturalistic hunters" could not logically see hunting as recreational). To be fair Chapter 8 has a great call to action and call out foe making wildlife management more well-rounded and inclusive.

The narrator also makes several obvious errors (ie "Pittman-Roberts Act" and "US Geological Society").

So killing Cougars and Mountain lions is good?

This book had me until he contradicts himself and says we must save these creatures not overreact to sensational news stories about these amazing creatures but then we still must kill them? Not a solution for living with wild animals.