New mountain lion added to Southern California study

LOS ANGELES (AP) — The National Park Service says it’s added a new mountain lion to a long-term study of the big cats in Southern California.

Officials announced Monday that the lion dubbed P-77 was captured, outfitted with a tracking collar and released where it was found in the Simi Hills northwest of Los Angeles.

P-77 is a female and estimated to be about two years old.

Biologists are studying lions in and around the Santa Monica Mountains to determine how they survive in urbanized, fragmented habitat.