Mammals of the San Gabriel Mountains of CaliforniaVaughan, Terry A.
Science
Mammals of the San Gabriel Mountains of California
Vaughan, Terry A.
Mammals -- California, Southern
The four specimens from the desert slope, although exhibiting a wide
range of variation, are all representatives of the desert race
_baileyi_. A yearling male from near the head of Grandview Canyon, at
5200 feet elevation, has the profuse black spotting of the subspecies
_californicus_, but the general pallor dorsally is characteristic of the
desert subspecies. An adult female, from 4700 feet elevation in Graham
Canyon, shows the double mid-dorsal black line and the distinct black
markings around the face characteristic of _californicus_, but is
otherwise pale with reduced black patterns on the backs of the ears. The
other two specimens, an adult male and a yearling female, are typical
examples of _baileyi_, pale, and with reduced black markings. None of
the specimens of bobcats from the coastal slope of the mountains showed
characters approaching those of _baileyi_. It seems, therefore, that
these two subspecies intergrade on the interior slope of the range.
A yearling male weighed 12 pounds, and a yearling female weighed 10.5
pounds. An old male weighed 19.6 pounds, and an adult female weighed
15.1 pounds.
Remains of deer were in two of the bobcat stomachs, and one of these
stomachs also contained jack rabbit remains. Approximately a dozen
nematodes (stomach worms) were in the stomach of one of the larger male
specimens.
_Specimens examined._--Total, 4, distributed as follows: Los
Angeles County: Mescal Canyon, 4800 ft., 1; Graham Canyon, 4700
ft., 1; Grandview Canyon, 5200 ft., 2.
=Felis concolor californica= May
Mountain Lion
Several cabin owners near the mouth of Icehouse Canyon reported seeing a
lion in that area in 1950, and others said they saw huge cat tracks in
Icehouse Canyon. State Trapper James Wolfort reported that he trapped
two lions on the coastal face of the range in 1947. Authentic reports
indicate that mountain lions occur in remote sections on both slopes of
the range, and in these areas mountain lions probably are as common as
they ever were.
Family CERVIDAE
=Odocoileus hemionus californicus= (Caton)
Mule Deer
Mule deer are common in chaparral areas on both slopes of the San
Gabriel Mountains. The animals or their tracks have been observed from
the coastal sagebrush flats up to about 9200 feet on Mount San Antonio,
and on the desert slope down to the lower limit of the juniper belt.
Deer are plentiful in the upper chaparral belt, and large bands are
often noted there in spring. These bands may form in the up-mountain
migration and reoccupation of areas which were covered by winter snows.
A band of fourteen was observed on March 17, 1951, one mile east of the
mouth of Cattle Canyon, and bands of about half a dozen individuals each
were often noted in March, 1951, at the base of Icehouse Canyon.
Cronemiller and Bartholomew (1950) gave a good account of the mule deer
in the chaparral belt of the San Gabriel Mountains.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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