Species Spotlight : Bobcat
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The bobcat is so named because of it's 'bobbed' tail. This may be a misnomer given that its tail has been recorded as being as long as 18 inches. The false perception that the bobcat has hardly any tail has given rise to many people thinking they have seen a panther when they have, in fact, seen a bobcat.
The bobcat is found throughout North America and Mexico. It frequents a wide variety of habitats including rocky ledges, wooded swamps and mixed forest and agricultural areas. Thick patches of saw palmetto and dense shrub thickets are important as den and resting sites in Florida.
Bobcats will eat just about anything that moves, but mammals are by far the most important group of prey animals. In Florida, the eastern cottontail, marsh rabbit, and cotton rat are the primary prey species. By feeding on these animals, the bobcat provides a necessary control on their populations.
Since Florida is also an important wintering habitat for migrating birds, the bobcat’s winter diet reflects this abundance and includes ground-dwelling birds such as towhees, robins, catbirds and thrashers.
In Florida, bobcats breed from August to March with the peak in February and March. The average litter size is two to three kittens, and the young have mottled or spotted fur with more distinct facial marking than the adults. By the fall or early winter, the young adults begin to disperse to areas outside of the home range where they were born.
Most Floridians have never seen a bobcat, though the fringes of suburbia continue to move ever closer to its habitat. Swift and secretive, hunting mostly at night, bobcats are the most discreet of neighbors and an integral part of Florida’s wildlife community.
More information about bobcats
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