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A mountain lion who miraculously survived last month's raging California wildfires has died

 The cougar, known as P-64 and fondly called 'Culvert Cat' for crossing the highways northwest of Los Angeles using culvert storm drain tunnels, died earlier this week, the National Park Service announced on Friday

 The four-year-old male, who roamed the Santa Monica and Santa Susana mountains, was traced using data from his tracking collar

On December 3 wildlife biologist Jeff Sikich found P-64's body at the bottom of an unburnt grassy canyon near a streambed in Simi Hills with all four of his paws badly burned

  His singed paws would have made it difficult for the animal to walk and hunt.  Officials said he had been dead for a few days

 His exact cause of death is not yet known and a necropsy will be conducted. His habitat was scorched earlier this month in the Woolsey Fire that ignited on November 8 and ravaged the area

 The blaze burned 88 per cent of national parkland in the Santa Monica Mountains.He was last known to be alive on November 26, more than two weeks after the fires broke out

But his GPS tracker eventually stopped weeks later.   'He basically had two options

 He either had to enter an urban area that had many firefighters, loud fire engines and people fleeing and a lot of noise or retreat onto the burned landscape,' Sikich, who studied P-64 closely, said to the Los Angeles Times

  Share this article Share He believes P-64 chose to remain in his burnt territory, badly searing his paws, which might have become infected

 Sikich said it's not uncommon for mountain lions to survive a fire and die soon afterwards

 The cougar was first found by authorities in February and was given a GPS tracking device

 The next day the cat was caught on park trail cameras crossing the 101 Freeway via the highway's culvert, awarding him his nickname

 Since then, P-64 was recorded crossing the 101 and 191 freeways in Los Angeles a total of 41 times

The crossing is a dangerous path as it can be overwhelmed with rains and is so long and curved, animals can't see from one end to the other

 'It's really interesting that this mountain lion figured out how to use this extremely long and dark culvert under the freeway,' wildlife ecologist Seth Riley said

 The park tracks 11 mountain lions that have frequented the area near the Woolsey fire perimeters

 Nine of those lions seem to have survived. Another young male known as P-74 is believed to have also died in the fire

  

For more infomation >> Mountain lion dies after surviving California wildfire - Daily News - Duration: 3:45.

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California becomes the first state. to require ALL new homes to be powered by solar energy - Duration: 4:32.

California officially becomes the first state in the U.S. to require ALL new homes to be powered by solar energy

California has become the first state in the U.S. to mandate that all new homes built in the Golden State must be solar powered, after law makers passed a historic vote on Wednesday.

The initiative, which will come into action in 2020, has been passed unanimously by the California Building Standards Commission and will see all homes in the area equipped with more sustainable energy sources.

Members of the board declared the move as a 'historical undertaking' that should act as 'a beacon of light' for the rest of the country to follow.

Coming as a fulfillment of a 10-year initiative to make the state more reliant on clean renewable energy, the move will bring solar power into mainstream use in a way it has never been before.

Upholding a May 9 vote by the California Energy Commission, the Building Standards Commission's seal of approval made the motion official on December 5.

However, despite the rapturous applause the bill's passing was met with, there are some opposed to the new provisions because of the additional costs homeowners will now incur.

The solar furnishings add an estimated $10,000 to the cost of building a single-family home – including more than $8,400 for installing panels and roughly $1,500 for energy efficiency.

The added expenses come at a time when affordable housing in California is already scarce - the state's house prices are already double the national average.

Additional worries were also raised on behalf of the victims of last month's devastating California wildfires, which destroyed more than 10,000 structures and left thousands of families homeless.

The concern was that those seeking to rebuild in the wake of the disaster may not be able to afford the additional up-front charges. The committee however stated this wouldn't be an issue.

California homeowners will have the option to either pay the costs up front or sign a 'power purchase agreement,' which pays for the electricity without buying the panels, according to an official with the California Energy Commission.

'The homeowners will be able to save money from the day they walk in the door,' said Kelly Knutsen, technology advancement director for the California Solar & Storage Association, to The Orange County Register.

Knutsen added: 'This is a historical policy. California is leading the country in clean energy, clean air and fighting climate change, all while saving consumers money.'.

Officials also say the 30-year lifespan of the solar panels will offset the utility bills, helping families save up to $500 a year.

Kent Sasaki, a structural engineer and one of six commissioners voting for the new energy code, added: 'These provisions really are historic and will be a beacon of light for the rest of the country.

'(It's) the beginning of substantial improvement in how we produce energy and reduce the consumption of fossil fuels.