BRN 9-4 - Flipbook - Page 56
ÒFor us, this project was an expedition, not only into a region of the Chihuahua Desert
that was little known, but also into our own physical, intellectual, and emotional limits.
Ten years is a long time to maintain peak intensity in laborious Þeld research. But the
place and the life kept us always looking and stepping forward. Without a doubt, our
deepest satisfaction was in trying to Þgure out why life works the way it does on a piece
of Earth, the San Andres Mountains. Every canyon, ridge and mountain peak became
familiar to us. It was inevitable. Daily, we searched for or followed pumas wherever they
might go, which was everywhere in these desert mountains. A clandestine helicopter
crew could have blindfolded us and plunked us down alone in some secluded spot in the
middle of night, but by daybreak, or even before, we would have known where we were.
The rigors and pleasures of the land, its seasons, and the animals deÞned our way of life.
We will always regard the San Andres Mountains as Ôour homeÕ.Ó
K. A. Logan and L. L. Sweanor - Desert Puma: Evolutionary Ecology
and Conservation of an Enduring Carnivore
55
