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‘It’s a girl!’ Meet L.A.’s newest mountain lion kitten — P-54

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The latest addition to the Santa Monica Mountains’ troop of mountain lions is a furry, 4-week-old kitten birthed by a widely known cougar whose photo was snapped as she feasted on a deer.

The female kitten, named P-54, is believed to be the product of inbreeding, which researchers said is a growing phenomenon in the Santa Monica Mountains animals because of a shrinking genetic pool. The kitten’s mother, P-23, likely mated with her mother’s half-sibling, P-30, according to the National Park Service.

“The good news is that local mountain lions continue to reproduce successfully,” biologist Jeff Sikich said in a statement. “Unfortunately, these animals are stuck on an island of habitat, with very little movement in and out of the Santa Monica Mountains, which has led to multiple cases of inbreeding.”

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Researchers tracked the cats as they traveled together for three days. About 90 days later, researchers discovered that P-23 had given birth.

“It’s a girl,” Ranger Kate Kuykendall announced on the Facebook account of the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area.

Researchers think P-23 may have birthed more than one kitten.

“We are planning on placing cameras on a deer kill of the mom’s and trying to get photos later to see how many kittens she has with her,” Kuykendall said.

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If genetic testing confirms that P-30 is the kitten’s father, her birth would be the first record of him fathering kittens, the park service said.

This is P-23’s third litter.

Like other mountain lions in the Santa Monica Mountains, P-23 has also gained notoriety. A photograph showing her dragging a deer into brush in the Malibu Springs area provided a rare glimpse of how mountains lions handle their prey.

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Unfortunately for P-23, she has had some heartbreaks, and child-rearing has been bittersweet.

Four of her kittens met a grisly end in 2015 when they were eaten by larger predators.

A sibling of the dead kittens managed to survive, however, and was recorded by surveillance cameras as it chirped for its mother.

veronica.rocha@latimes.com

Twitter: VeronicaRochaLA

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UPDATES:

9:05 a.m.: This article was updated with information about researchers looking for other kittens.

This article was originally published at 8:20 a.m

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