Bobcats are shy, solitary, and generally elusive. A dominant male travels with a female and mates with her several times, generally from winter until early spring; this varies by location, but most mating takes place during February and March. When walking your dog, use a 6-foot leash and be especially wary near creeks or wooded areas. It ranges from the humid swamps of Florida to desert lands of Texas or rugged mountain areas. The Bobcat is a medium-sized, reddish brown or grayish cat. Within three to five months, they begin to travel with their mother. [61] Like other Lynx species, bobcats probably avoid encounters with bears, in part because they are likely to lose kills to them or may rarely be attacked by them. The bobcat (Lynx rufus), also known as the red lynx, is a medium-sized cat native to North America from southern Canada, most of the contiguous United States to Oaxaca in Mexico. The Florida bobcat is about twice as big as a domestic cat and is easy to identify thanks to its short "bobbed" tail. Though bigger than a house cat, they are too small to hunt and eat people. Like most cats, the bobcat is territorial and largely solitary, although with some overlap in home ranges. [9], The bobcat's range does not seem to be limited by human populations, as long as it can find a suitable habitat; only large, intensively cultivated tracts are unsuitable for the species. Cougars and gray wolves can kill adult bobcats, a behavior repeatedly observed in Yellowstone National Park as well as elsewhere. Injuries such as having been hit by cars or disease, illness, birth defects. The occasion: the annual salmon run, in which hundreds of thousands of fish make their way up the park’s rivers to spawn. On the rare occasions a bobcat kills a deer, it eats its fill and then buries the carcass under snow or leaves, often returning to it several times to feed. (1996). It is only in the northern parts of their range where the toms get so large. Lynx live in cold northern latitudes where snow lies deep for much of the year. This leads to a decrease in natural genetic diversity among bobcat populations. The plan provides direction and oversight for sustaining or enhancing the abundance, enjoyment and utilization of bobcats … Watch footage below of Bobcat patients at PAWS Wildlife Center being released back to the wild in May 2015. [51] During courtship, the otherwise silent bobcat may let out loud screams, hisses, or other sounds. [31], In line with widely differing estimates of home range size, population density figures are divergent, from one to 38 bobcats per 10 sq mi (26 km2) in one survey. 99. One to six, but usually two to four, kittens are born in April or May, after roughly 60 to 70 days of gestation. Its color ranges from an orange-ish brown to pale gray with black spots and bars on it legs and chest and less noticeable spots throughout its body. Bobcats can run at up to 30 miles per hour. 4.3 out of 5 stars 21. In winter, bobcats tend to avoid activity during periods of low temperatures, but in summer, activity seems to be initiated as temperatures commence to fall. According to the National Agricultural Statistics Service, bobcats killed 11,100 sheep in 2004, comprising 4.9% of all sheep predator deaths. [56][57] Coyotes have killed adult bobcats and kittens. North American populations are believed to be quite large, with perhaps as many as one million cats in the United States alone. Its ears usually have small tufts at the tips, and its fur is longer on the sides of its head than on the rest of its body, forming a ruff. Its trail is very narrow because its hind feet prints lie directly on top of, or in \"register\" with, its forefeet prints. Scientific Name: Lynx rufus New York State Bobcat Management Plan. It is listed as least concern on the IUCN Red List, noting it is relatively widespread and abundant, but information from southern Mexico is poor. The medium-sized cat looks similar to other members of the Lynx genus, especially the Canada lynx.. Their coat color varies and has been recorded in shades of light gray, yellowish-brown, buff-brown, and reddish-brown. The subspecies occupying New Hampshire is known as Lynx rufus gigas. Although it has been hunted extensively both for sport and fur, populations have proven resilient though declining in some areas.[1]. Bobcats are fascinating creatures that might compete well in looks and skills with the cat sensation that has swept social media. Prior to settlement, bobcats … © 1996-2015 National Geographic Society, © 2015- Bobcats vary greatly in size. Internal parasites (endoparasites) are especially common in bobcats. Both sexes look alike. Transient bobcats were found to have both larger (roughly 22 sq mi (57 km2)) and less well-defined home ranges. They feed on small animals and sometimes small or sick deer. It has distinctive black bars on its forelegs and a black-tipped, stubby (or "bobbed") tail, from which it derives its name. The home range is marked with feces, urine scent, and by clawing prominent trees in the area. Bobcats are about twice the size of a domestic cat. Another study observed a similar ratio, and suggested the males may be better able to cope with the increased competition, and this helped limit reproduction until various factors lowered the density. The backs of the prominent, pointed ears are black with a central light-colored spot.

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