Oct 13, 20232 min read

"Because of listening to your show...(I) was able to scare the mountain lion back up the path"

Updated: Oct 17, 2023

WOW. We get a lot of incredible feedback about our podcast (‘THE WILD with Chris Morgan’) but I have to say this one stopped me in my tracks. Kind of like the mountain lion Lauren mentioned in her email...

Mountain lions are stealthy creatures. This video gives you an idea of just how quietly they travel through the forest - you'll likely have no idea that they are nearby. Notice you really only hear the steps nearest to my trail camera well.

Now back to Lauren's email. Here's the backstory:

Way back in the first season of THE WILD, May of 2019 we released an episode called "Animal psychology and how to stay safe in the wild". This one was a little different, we reviewed some viral videos of animal encounters, and I interpreted the animal behavior from an ecologist's point of view while providing tips on how to safely navigate a similar situation.

We received a good amount of feedback to this episode but this one really lit the team up!

Here are a couple of photos from Lauren's trip that she sent along.

And...this weekend we'll have a special broadcast edition of THE WILD - featuring this same episode about staying safe in the wild, paired with another episode that discusses our relationship with animals. I'll discuss the two episodes during the broadcast as well.

Tune in on Saturday at 2pm PT at KUOW.com or if you're in the NW part of Washington state, listen on your radio at 94.9 FM. See links below to the watch videos discussed on the episode.

This shot is the trail where Lauren came face to face with the mountain lion!

We were happy to hear she didn't try to get a photo of the cougar, but instead focused on staying safe and doing the right thing. They are very powerful and very speedy creatures.

To see just how fast they are, take a look at this behind the scenes video clip below.

I filmed it on my phone during field work for another one of our earlier episodes: 'How to Catch a Cougar'.

For that episode, I joined some biologist colleagues tracking multiple cougars in the forest, to monitor their numbers and movement patterns. The video shows the cougar waking up from anesthesia.

Watch closely and try not to blink...I'm not kidding when I say they are fast. :)

Better than a cup of coffee I like to say - ha! Long time listeners will get that reference:).

Hope you can tune in this weekend...And we'd love to hear from you too!

Send comments to info@chrismorganwildlife.org. If you want to join me in the wild for incredible experiences to see wildlife in the great outdoors, check out our travel page.

Stay safe and alert out there and thanks for listening!