A Fatality and the American Mountain Lion: Bite Mark Analysis and Profile of the Offending Lion

Abstract

Attacks on humans by mountain lions have been infrequent in the history of the United States. Of the 64 authenticated attacks since 1890 in North America, there have been 13 fatalities. This paper reports a case of an adult mountain lion which attacked and killed a female jogger during the spring of 1994 in California. The lion left an imprint of its teeth on the victim's chin. The authors used this bite mark to aid authorities in profiling the approximate age and gender of the attacking animal. The authors subsequently utilized bite mark analysis to establish that the lion actually responsible for the attack had been removed from the area.