Despite their extensive range, researchers know little about the behavior of these solitary creatures, says Mark Elbroch, a wildlife ecologist at the University of California, Davis. Now, a first-of-its-kind field study by Elbroch and Davis colleague Heiko Wittmer has shed new light on the puma's ecological role. Between March 2008 and September 2009, the researchers caught nine pumas living in a 1100-square-kilometer region in southern Chile and strapped GPS-equipped radio collars on them.
