LANSING, Mich. (Michigan News Source) — Michigan confirmed 31 cougar detections in 2025—the most in more than a century—but the bigger news isn’t the number. It’s what the state spotted with them.

For the first time since the early 1900s, cougar cubs were confirmed in Michigan, indicating the animals aren’t just passing through the Upper Peninsula, they’re raising young here.

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The Michigan Department of Natural Resources (MDNR) verified 31 reports last year and expects the total to grow as trail-camera footage is reviewed.

“That number will go up once we get our DNR cameras in there,” Brian Roell, the DNR’s large carnivore specialist, told Bridge Michigan.

Nonetheless, officials caution the spike may reflect better detection rather than a population surge. Trail cameras, now widespread among both the DNR and private landowners, have made it easier to spot animals that once went unseen.

For years, biologists believed Michigan’s cougars were lone males passing through from western states. That assumption changed last year, when two cubs were spotted on Dec. 14. 

“This is the first time that there’s been reproduction verified east of the Mississippi in well over 100 years,” Roell said.

No cougars have been verified in Michigan so far this year.