Bobcat
Bobcats are secretive, medium-sized wild cats that are crucial predators of rodents and other small animals.
About This Species
The bobcat is a familiar animal, but it is secretive and seldom seen. Bobcats are similar in appearance to their cousin, the lynx. Indeed, they are especially difficult to distinguish in the Southern Rockies, where the local bobcat is large and pale in color. The most accurate way to distinguish the two species are their tails; bobcat tails are white underneath with a black tip and stripes on top, whereas lynx have a solid black tail. Bobcats tend to also have more pronounced spots and stripes than the lynx, although this may not always be the case. Both species can have ear tufts. Hasty observers sometimes confuse mountain lion kittens — which are spotted — with bobcats or lynx, but that is a careless error because young cougars have distinctly long tails.
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Physical Characteristics
Bobcats are 32–37 inches long with a tail about 6 inches in length.
Range
Bobcats occur widely in North America, from southern Canada to central Mexico, and they range statewide in Colorado.
Habitat
They are most abundant in foothills, canyons, mesas, and plateaus, where brush and woodland provide suitable habitat. Bobcats tend to avoid open prairies, tundra, heavy sub-alpine timber, and wetlands.
Diet
The staple fare of bobcats is rabbits. Like other native cats they hunt by stealth rather than engaging in long chases. When rabbits are scarce, bobcats will eat mice, voles and birds. They are active throughout the year.
Reproduction
Bobcats breed in late winter and spring and produce a single litter, typically around three young, each year after a gestation period of about 10 weeks. The nursery is a simple natural shelter – under a rock or log. The young are weaned at about 8 weeks of age.