Celebrate International Women’s Day with Panthera’s Puma Program

Today and every day, we celebrate the impressive achievements of women scientists. Logan-Bates Mundell, Bárbara Escobar-Anleu and Veronica Yovovich are a few of the remarkable women of Panthera’s Puma Program team who make protecting pumas and their ecosystems possible.

Logan Bates-Mundell 

Logan Bates-Mundell recently completed her master's in environmental science at the University of Freiburg in Freiburg, Germany. Logan began her work with Panthera on the Olympic Cougar Project (OCP), where she worked with the Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe research team, one of the six Tribal nations that Panthera collaborates with in Washington State. 

For her master’s research, Logan investigated puma predation dynamics at a multi-site level. She used data from Panthera and Panthera-supported partner sites, including the Olympic Peninsula, California, Panthera’s Teton Cougar Project in Wyoming, Colorado and Patagonia. Her results showed that pumas eat smaller prey in summer, when small mammals and baby ungulates are more available, and larger prey like moose and elk where they are available. Logan and her team also showed that pumas select larger prey with age, highlighting social learning in prey selection and the complex ecological aspects of foraging among pumas.

“Being introduced to the work of powerhouse women in conservation like Jane Goodall or Diane Fossey from a young age gave me stars by which to navigate, but as I continued through my studies and on into fieldwork (with an emphasis on my time with OCP), I was provided with more direct role models who enthusiastically shared their knowledge and expertise, invested time and trust in me, and demonstrated for me the type of scientist and leader whom I continue to aspire to emulate, having watched them elegantly navigate many obstacles while garnering respect for themselves as well as their projects.” 

— Logan Bates-Mundell 

Bárbara Escobar-Anleu 

In the biodiverse landscape of Central America, Bárbara Escobar-Anleu supports Panthera’s conservation partners to preserve pumas, jaguars and other wildlife. As Project Coordinator, she also works closely with local communities, including the Q’eqchi’ people. Barbara is currently a Ph.D. candidate, using noninvasive genetic sampling, remote camera data and passive acoustic monitoring to assess puma connectivity across the region. 

Bárbara notes that among the most rewarding experiences in the field has been seeing the emotion with which girls in remote villages receive her because she is a wild cat biologist. Due to the gender inequality where she is from, the fact that she has managed to thrive as a biologist is no small feat, and she takes great pride in her work. In places with a significant lack of opportunities for girls and women, she is excited to share with them the possibilities for their future.

Veronica Yovovich  

Veronica Yovovich, Ph.D., is a Conservation Scientist with Panthera and an Assistant Professor at Colorado State University. Her research focuses on human-wildlife interactions, especially livestock-carnivore conflict prevention. Her work is informed by close collaboration with livestock producers, land managers and CSU Extension to ensure that the findings are appropriate and feasible for real-world application. 

Dr. Yovovich leads Panthera’s Bay Area Carnivore-Livestock Interactions Project, a collaborative partnership with CSU Fort Collins, the Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District, UC Cooperative Extension, UC Santa Cruz, UC Berkeley and others. Developed through extensive conversations with livestock producers in California’s Central Coast, this research and extension project is designed to find ways of reducing puma and coyote predation on livestock. The results from this effort will be used to design local livestock and wildlife management policies and to develop effective tools for preventing livestock-carnivore conflict more broadly.

Learn more about the incredible staff working to protect pumas.