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Mountain Lions Are Returning to Kansas

A fuzzy black and white photo of a mountain lion walking, and a photo of a white man pointing toward a field.
Aaron Fleming (left). KPR/Matthew Algeo (right).
A mountain lion captured on a trail cam in north central Kansas (left). Jon Beckmann, a wildlife supervisor for the Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks, points to the spot where a mountain lion was recently spotted in Riley County (right).

When you think of Kansas, you probably don’t think of mountains—or mountain lions. But in recent years, the number of sightings of mountain lions in the state has skyrocketed. What’s bringing these elusive animals to the Sunflower State? Matthew Algeo recently went looking for answers—and mountain lions—with a state wildlife biologist.

(An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated the number of mountain lion sightings in Kansas. There have been 117 since 2007 and 65 since 2023.)