Nine months after two cougar cubs were documented in the Upper Peninsula, a new trail camera photo indicates the elusive animals are still alive and living with their mother.

The Michigan Department of Natural Resources verified the December 6 photo of an adult cougar being followed by two kittens down a snowy trail in central Ontonagon County. When last documented, in early March 2025, they were about 2 months old. Their mother was nowhere in sight, raising concerns about the kittens’ survival.

The newly verified photo shows an adult cougar with two juvenile cougars that appear to be about a year old, according to Brian Roell, the DNR’s large carnivore specialist. Michigan is home to few cougars. Genetic testing has confirmed the existence of only adult males. The latest photo suggests one of the first instances of cougar reproduction to take place outside the cougars’ core area in the Western states.

“This is a historic confirmation for Michigan. It is the first time in over 100 years that verified cougar reproduction has occurred east of the Mississippi River and possibly even east of the Missouri River,” Roell said.

A private landowner sent the trail camera photo to the DNR on December 14. Roell verified the site of the photo the next day. The DNR’s cougar team confirmed the photo December 16 by enhancing the nighttime image to verify the existence of the three cougars. The sex of the kittens is unknown.

Cougar cubs generally stay with their mother for about two years before venturing out on their own. “The chances of survival are actually pretty high because just like bears, cougars invest a lot of their energy into their young,” Roell said. “So, these kittens will stay with their mom through this winter and possibly even into next winter. They already have a leg up, seeing as how they’ve been with her for a year.”

Roell is surprised the cougar kittens weren’t documented from any public or private trail cameras since March. The DNR operates more than 1,300 trail cameras in the U.P. to survey wildlife abundance. “The interesting thing is, where were they for nine months?” Roell said. “That’s a mystery.”

Native to Michigan, cougars were essentially hunted out of the state by the early 1900s. Since 2008, the DNR has confirmed about 168 cougar sightings, all in the U.P., although most of those sightings are of the same animal being reported by multiple sources, Roell says.

Cougar sightings have increased each year since 2019, Roell added, but the number of trail cameras also has increased. Sightings on DNR-operated cameras accounted for more than 25 percent of the verified cougar sightings in 2024.

Cougars are on the list of endangered mammals in Michigan. It’s illegal to hunt or harass them, including trying to locate their den on public or private property.