Necropsies on the two mountain lions harvested so far in the state's experimental season yielded no initial surprises, but other test results aren't in yet.

"Both animals were in very good nutritional condition, having moderate to high fat reserves," Dorothy Fecske, furbearer biologist for the NorthDakota Game and Fish Department, said Thursday, a day after examining the carcasses.

The male recently had eaten part of a mule deer, and its "stomach was full with a solid chunk," Fecske said.

The female hadn't eaten as recently.

"Her stomach contained a third of a cup of hair from an unknown animal," Fecske said, adding that she planned to use a hair key to determine what species had been eaten.

The two cougars were killed by deer hunters in western North Dakota. A 2½- to 3-year-old, 92-pound female was shot Nov. 16, and a 1½- to 2-year-old, 99-pound male was killed the next morning.

The female's reproductive tract also was being analyzed to determine if she had bred. Physiologically, a 2½- to 3-year-old female lion could breed, and mountain lions typically bear their first litter in their third or fourth years, said Fecske, who also took photographs that she e-mailed to colleagues "who do this a lot." She was awaiting their responses.

Fecske also took muscle samples that will go to South Dakota State University for genetic analysis "to help us determine where the animals came from." She also is having blood tested for a bacterial infection that can be fatal. Lions get tularemia from eating rabbits or from tick or deer fly bites.

Fecske froze the cat's intestinal tracts "for later, more detailed analysis," which will show what else the cougars had been eating and reveal any parasites they were carrying. Her timetable is over the next few months.

"It's too early to draw any conclusions," she said. "Based on confirmed reports of lions and the deaths of these two animals in North Dakota, we know individual lions are traveling through the state and that there appears to be a greater presence in western NorthDakota. But as far as how many, we don't know, and we don't know if we have an established breeding population."