Learn about wild cat

Dr. James Halfpenny will teach a Cougar Ecology and Verification Seminar on Sat., and Sun., March 21 and 22 in Westlake Village.

Participants can improve their knowledge about cougars and their presence, dangers, and management.

Jeff Sikich, biologist with the National Park Service, will discuss the study of cougars in the Santa Monica Mountains. He will also cover cougar ecology, and how cougars interact at the human interface.

Additional topics include population biology, behavior, pet trade, locating tracks and signs, determining age and sex, verifying presence, collecting quality evidence, and other tracking topics.

The two-day workshop will provide the skills needed to accurately identify and document signs of cougars, dogs, lynx, wolves, and other rare carnivores.

The workshop is not a field program but includes sandbox tracking. Participants make plaster casts of rare mammals.

Halfpenny, one of the world's outstanding carnivore ecologists and animal trackers, has been gathering wildlife clues since 1957 and teaching classes worldwide for more than 25 years.

He's the author of "A Field Guide to Mammal Tracking in North America" and other numerous books, including "Discovering Yellowstone Wolves."

Certification included upon completion. Enrollment is limited. The cost for both days is $175.

For details, time of event and registration, call Julie Newsome at (818) 292-5920 or e-mail julienewsome@dslextreme.com.

For more about Halfpenny, go to www.tracknature.com.