The Bashful Bobcat
Small, stealthy wild cats live in the Foothills. They are shadow and smoke, creatures of myth, until suddenly you encounter one and realize they are not imaginary. Instead, they are resilient, resourceful survivors who are shy, quiet, and elusive. Bobcats have many names — bobbed-tail cat, wildcat, gato monte, lynx cat, cat lynx — and are fluffy, stocky creatures with a short "bobbed" tail and black tufts on their eartips. Unlike their closest relative the lynx, bobcats are flexible generalists who live in various habitats and eat a variety of animals. Their preferred meal is rabbit or squirrel but they will also eat insects, birds, and larger mammals like deer. They use different hunting techniques depending on prey species. They live in habitats with plenty of cover for hiding and stalking their prey, from Mexico through southern Canada. Northern Canada is too snowy for them; bobcats don't have the furry paws of lynx and have a harder time traveling through deep snow.
These cats are territorial and largely solitary, although their home ranges often partially overlap. They mark their territories extensively by scent marking — urine spraying, defecating, anal gland secretions, and body rubbing — as well as by scraping trees with their claws. Although normally pretty quiet apart from birdlike chirps, they become quite alarmingly vocal during mating season. If you’re out in the Foothills and hear screaming and hissing, chances are you’re hearing a bobcat. Even so, you probably won’t see them. This makes it all the more magical when one does cross your path.
Although they can tolerate more human disturbance than other wild cats can, bobcats are the most extensively killed wild cats in the world. The bobcat fur trade was extremely lucrative in the 1970s and still continues today, with bobcat pelts sold overseas. Aside from painful death through trapping/hunting, bobcats are sensitive to habitat fragmentation and destruction. While they often live in the border realm between human development and wild country, they need peace and quiet. They prefer to live their lives apart from ours, beautiful ghosts who leave you wondering if you did, in fact, see them after all.
By Maria Goller
