Sleepy Mountain Lion Wakes Up Right in Front of Trail Camera

Feb 04, 2026

Matt Growcoot

Close-up, black and white photo of a large wild cat, possibly a puma or mountain lion, taken at night with a trail camera. The animal is looking directly at the camera, with grass and darkness in the background. — Rising from its slumber, the puma looked groggy.

A sleepy mountain lion posed for a few amusing selfies after a nature photographer set up a trail camera right next to a kill.

Dave Kiely set the motion-detect camera while on a trip to Patagonia. The fresh guanaco kill attracted nearby South American cougars, or pumas, but one of them decided to stick around and got up close and personal with the camera.

“He even slept next to it, rolled over, took a few ‘selfies’ with the motion camera — like it was no big deal,” Kiely tells PetaPixel.

A black and white photo shows a mountain lion lying on the ground at night, its mouth wide open in a yawn or roar, displaying large teeth. Sparse vegetation is visible in the background.

A close-up, black-and-white night vision photo of a puma staring at the camera with glowing eyes, its fur illuminated against a dark, grassy background.

A large animal, likely a lion, lies on its side in the foreground at night, partially illuminated. Dense grasses and another indistinct animal shape are visible in the background.

Kiely says this particular individual is the second-largest male in the Torres del Paine puma population.

“He lingered around all night, then stretched out nearby as if the camera meant nothing at all,” he says.

A black-and-white night vision photo shows a mountain lion lying on its side in tall grass, appearing to rest or sleep. Another indistinct animal lies beside it, partially obscured by vegetation.

A lion lies on its side, resting on dry grass at night. The black-and-white image is captured by a trail camera, with bushes visible in the background under the night sky.

Kiely, a wildlife photographer who travels all over the world, says when he travels to Patagonia he likes to try out different methods, including the trail camera, which turned out to be a big success.

“I am going back down there again for a winter trip this August,” Kiely says. “So I will try the motion camera again.”

“There has been a lot of interest in these photos, which I am really happy about,” he adds.

Trail Cameras and Mountain Lions

Mountain lions, a notoriously elusive but also potentially dangerous creature, are captured on film a lot more often thanks to trail cameras. In November, a filmmaker revealed he left a remote camera inside an old grizzly bear den near Yellowstone National Park for over ten years. One of the standout findings was a mountain lion that revisited the den over and over again.

In December, PetaPixel reported on footage of a skunk confronting a mountain lion in the Angeles National Forest in California. And in 2024, a photographer captured a spectacular picture of a mountain lion in the Verdugo Hills with downtown Los Angeles sparkling behind it.

And that same year, a cougar hunt in Michigan, a state where they are seldom seen, was captured on a trail camera.

More of Kiely’s work can be found on his Instagram.

Image credits: Photographs by Dave Kiely

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