|
|
|
|
|
Bobcats
|
Description: The bobcat is a familiar animal, but it is secretive and seldom seen. The animals are 32-37 inches long with a tail about 6 inches in length. Bobcats are similar in appearance to their cousin, the lynx. Indeed, they are sepecially difficult to distinguish in the Southern Rockies, where the local bobcat is large and pale in color. Hasty observers sometimes confuse mountain lion kittens, which are spotted, with bobcats or lynx, but that is a careless error because young cougers have distinctly long tails.
|
Range/Habitat
Diet
Reproduction
|
Range/Habitat
|
Top
|
|
Bobcats occur widely in North America, from southern Canada to central Mexico, and they range statewide in Colorado. 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 subalpine timber and wetlands.
|
|
Diet
|
Top
|
|
The staple fare on bobcats is rabbits. Like other native cats they hunt by hiding or stealth rather than engaging in long chases. When rabbits are scarce, bobcats eat mice, voles, and birds. They are active throughout the year.
|
|
Reproduction
|
Top
|
|
Bobcats breed in late winter and spring and produce a single litter each year of one to seven (typically three) young after a gestation period of about 10 weeks. The nursery is a simple natural shelter, such as under a rock or log. The young are weaned at about 8 weeks of age.
Related Links:
Division of Wildlife
The Bobcat
Animal Tracks
SchoolWorld
Mammals
|
|
|
|
|
