There is only one species of Bobcat in California and in the southwestern deserts -- Felis rufus. It has the widest and most continuous range of any California carnivore and is found throughout all the deserts of the American Southwest.
Habitat
Bobcats are found in almost all types of habitat -- except metropolitan areas -- especially in mountains and even in desert areas where water is available. In fact it ranges through all four deserts of the American Southwest, but favors rocky, brushy hillsides on which to live and hunt.
Description
The name Bobcat may have originated from its short tail, which is only 6 or 7 inches long. The end of its tail is always black, tipped with white, which distinguishes the Bobcat from its northern cousin, the Canadian Lynx, whose tail is tipped solid black.
The Bobcat has long legs and large paws. Large specimens can weigh up to 30 pounds, but the average Bobcat is only 15 to 20 pounds. The Bobcat's growls and snarls are so deep and fearsome, particularly when hidden from view, that one gets the mis-impression it must be a Mountain Lion.
Geographic variations have some effect on their color. Those found in timber and heavy brush fields are darker with rust-colored tones, while those found in the Great Basin area of northeastern California generally are a paler tawny-gray, often with a complete absence of spots on the back and less distinct markings. The coat in wintertime is a beautiful fur.
Habits
Despite its pussycat appearance when seen in repose, the Bobcat is quite fierce and is equipped to kill animals as large as deer. When living near a ranch, it may take lambs, poultry and even young pigs. However, food habit studies have shown Bobcats subsist on a diet of rabbits, ground squirrels, mice, pocket gophers and wood rats. Quail have been found in bobcat stomachs, but predation by bobcats does not harm healthy game populations.
The Bobcat roams freely at night and is frequently abroad during the day except at the peak of summer. It does not dig its own den. If a crevice or a cave is not available, it will den in a dense thicket of brush or sometimes choose a hollow in a log or a tree.
Bobcats occupy areas from 1/4 of a square mile to as much as 25 square miles, depending on the habitat and sex of the Bobcat. Female Bobcats occupy smaller areas than males and normally do not associate with other female bobcats. Males roam wider than females; while they are not particularly tolerant of other males, the home ranges of males will overlap those of both males and females.
Life Cycle
Its mating behavior is similar to a housecat's. Young are usually born in April and May, although litters may be born during almost any month except December and January.
The normal Bobcat litter consists of 2 or 3 kittens, born blind and weighing 4 to 8 ounces. Birth occurs in a rock crevice or burrow, after a 60-day gestation period. The kittens open their eyes after 10 days and are taught hunting skills by their mother until they leave her 9 or 10 months later. The father has no role in raising the offspring.
Males are usually fertile by their first year, but females do not usually give birth to their first litter until they are two years old. Females normally produce just one litter per year. Because Bobcats are solitary animals, males and females spend only a few days of the year together -- during courtship and mating. Bobcats in captivity have been known to live as long as 25 years.
Young Bobcats appear as lovable and harmless domestic kittens, but because they are wild animals with the ability to inflict injury to humans, it is illegal to keep Bobcats as pets without special permits.
Current Status
Until 1971 the Bobcat, like the Coyote, had been pursued and destroyed as an undesirable predator, and little thought was given to its status or welfare. It could be killed at any time and in any manner. With the international protection of the world's spotted cats, the fur trade turned to the North American Bobcat. Almost overnight the pelt of the Bobcat came into prominence as one of the most desirable and expensive furs that could be taken legally.
Because of the high value of the Bobcat's fur and the recent increase in the take by hunters and licensed fur trappers, the California Fish and Game Commission has imposed a wintertime trapping season to control the amount of time when Bobcat can be taken.
The Department of Fish and Game has initiated a number of studies throughout the state to determine density, home range, and territoriality of the bobcat and to determine details of population dynamics, including age and sex structure of bobcats so that management plans may regulate what has become a valuable commercial resource.
Presently, the fur trapping season extends from November 15 to the last day of February. However, due to the very nature and location of the terrain which Bobcats prefer, the deep snows and impassable muddy roads in winter virtually close thousands of square miles of bobcat habitat during the hunting and trapping season. This, plus the protective regulations, should allow the Bobcat to thrive in California. The Bobcat has at last been recognized as a valuable part of our wildlife resources.
Click here for a Movie of a Bobcat.
-- A.R Royo
Bobcat 
