by Clark Tate
Nothing startles as brilliantly as a wildcat in the woods—or a swamp, high desert or suburb. The versatile bobcat (Lynx rufus) has the largest range of any North American feline, stalking prey from coast-to-coast between southern Canada and southern Mexico. But that doesn’t mean you’re likely to spy one. The largely nocturnal bobcat’s tawny coat, which is covered with dark, mottled markings, is excellent camo, and their padded feet allow for extreme stealth. But with their sharp eyesight, excellent sense of smell and sensitive (yet stately) tufted ears, they’ve probably spotted you.
Named for their bobbed tails, these cats are two to three times bigger (between 16 and 30 pounds and 2 to 3.5 feet tall) and more muscular than a housecat, with proportionately longer hind legs. They put those pouncers to good use, springing ambush attacks on prey—usually small game such as squirrels, birds, woodrats, porcupines and rabbits—from as far as 10 feet away (that’s 3.5 times their body length). Back East these cats are known to take down white-tailed deer, which weigh 110 to 300 pounds. While you should definitely beware, bobcats very rarely attack humans.
Read a natural history of the Mountain Lion
Typically the cats live between 10 and 12 years (in captivity they can make it to 25) in a home range of 5 to 30 square miles with multiple strategically placed dens. Males have the larger territories, which only overlap with the females’ territories during mating season (January to June). Listen closely—this is the time of year when you might catch the normally reserved cats vocalizing with yowls and hisses.
Though foxes, coyotes and large owls will eat kittens, humans are the bobcat’s biggest foe. During the early and middle 20th century, bobcats were decimated by trappers drawn to their lovely spotted pelts. The international CITES treaty of the 1970s listed bobcats and helped to bring the cats back from the brink. They are now considered North America’s most common native feline, with population estimates reaching one million. No one knows for sure, though—which makes it harder for wildlife managers to plan trapping season. Yes, folks still trap these little guys, fetching around $700 for a pelt in 2013 (up sharply from previous years), according to the L.A. Times.
In September 2013 the California legislature imposed a ban on trapping bobcats around Joshua Tree National Park, where bobcat trapping leaped 800 percent between 2010 and 2012, and directed California Fish and Game to establish no-trapping zones around state and national parks. According to news reports, bobcat trappers often set lures at the boundaries of parks.
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