P-2 (mountain lion)

P-2 (unknown – August 2005) was a wild mountain lion who resided in the Santa Monica Mountains. P-2 was the first female and mother tracked in a 20+ year, 100+ animal study in the area.^[1]

P-2 mated with P-1, the dominant male in the Santa Monica Mountains,^[2] at least twice. The first known mating occurred some time before 2002 and produced at least two offspring: P-9 and another. The second mating occurred in the summer of 2004 and produced four offspring: P-5, P-6, P-7, and P-8.^[1]

In August 2005, approximately eleven months after P-5, P-6, P-7, and P-8 were born, P-2 began considerably expanding her range, presumably to show her offspring areas for dispersal.^[1] Shortly after, P-2 was killed by P-1, something researchers believe was done either in a fight over food or more likely because she was protecting her children from P-1.^[3] P-5, P-6, P-7, and P-8 all dispersed after their mother's death, but even so, P-5 and P-7 were killed by P-1 the following year, as was P-8 by P-9.^[4] Fathers killing their male offspring is common amongst mountain lions, although killing a mate or a daughter as P-1 did is not. Researchers believe this behavior is exacerbated by the Santa Monica Mountains, where the land is fragmented and locked-in.^[1]

P-2 weighed 80 pounds (36 kg) while her mate and killer P-1 weighed 150 pounds (68 kg).^[5]

• List of wild animals from Los Angeles
• Mountain lions in the Santa Monica Mountains
• Cougar–human interactions