DNA Details Mountain Lion Journey From SD to CT

A mountain lion estimated to be between 2- and 5-years-old traveled 1,500 miles from its home in South Dakota, passing through Minnesota and Wisconsin before winding up in Connecticut where it grazed the grounds of a Greenwich private school prior to meeting its fateful end on the Wilbur Cross Parkway in Milford.

That was the portrait officials from the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection painted Tuesday of the incredible journey of a lean 140-pound male mountain lion credited with making the longest trek ever recorded for a land mammal and nearly double the known distance of any other mountain lion before it.

"The journey of this mountain lion is a testament to the wonders of nature and the tenacity and adaptability of this species," DEEP Commissioner Daniel Esty said in a press release.

All of the evidence of the animal's journey came from comparing its DNA with samples obtained through scat (droppings) and blood and hair found from confirmed sightings of the animal in the Midwest from late 2009 to 2010, officials said.

"DNA from the Connecticut specimen exactly matched DNA collected from an individual mountain lion at one site in Minnesota and three sites in Wisconsin," the DEEP said in its press release.

The animal has been dubbed the "St. Croix Mountain Lion" after the county in Minnesota where there was the first confirmed sighting of the same mountain lion years ago.

The DNA showed the animal was originally from the Black Hills region of South Dakota, and officials theorize that the young male mountain lion was following the "dispersal" behavior of his species and gender, namely looking for a mate.

But St. Croix was unique in that it just kept going. Mountain lions seldom travel more than 100 miles, yet St. Croix ventured more than 10 times that distance, officials said.

Also while officials had theorized early on that the animal may have been inadvertently released from captivity, St. Croix was clearly never domesticated, according to an autopsy conducted on the animal. It was not neutered or declawed, had no implanted micro chips commonly used in domestic animals and there was evidence of porcupine quills in the animal's tissue, which officials said was evidence of time in the wild.

Officials said they will work on determining a more precise age for the animal by analyzing an extracted tooth under a microscope.

St. Croix first came to the public eye in Connecticut after numerous sightings in Greenwich on the grounds of the exclusive Brunswick School.

The mountain lion was last seen on June 5 in Greenwich. Six days later, a 2006 Hyundai Tucson sport utility vehicle struck and killed the animal on the northbound lanes of the Wilbur Cross Parkway in the area of Exit 55 in Milford.