Lynx rufus

Bobcat (scientific name: Lynx rufus) is a cat species distributed in North America, with a total of 12 subspecies.

Bobcats have a strong ability to adapt to the environment and are animals that are active at dawn, mainly appearing at dawn and dusk. They start to move three hours before sunset until about midnight, and then they move again before daylight until three hours after sunrise. Every night they move 3-11 kilometers along their habitat. This behavior changes with the seasons, because in winter they adjust to their prey and become active during the day. In terms of personality, the bobcat is quite fierce. They can survive in places where people are relatively concentrated, and livestock and poultry become their prey. What's more fierce is that some bobcats will actively attack people. The hunting techniques and hunting skills of bobcats are relatively advanced, and they are natural hunters. The common hunting techniques used by bobcats are ambush and tracking. When using these two methods, they will flexibly switch according to the size of the prey.

The bobcat has a strong sense of territory. Usually, it only moves within its own territory. No matter how many nests it has, it must be built in its own territory, and prey is also hunted in its own territory. The size of the territory depends on the sex and the distribution of prey. They mark their territory with feces, urine and scratches on trees. The bobcat's territory has several roosts, usually with a main den and other peripheral shelters, such as hollow logs, bushes, grass or rock crevices. Their dens have a strong smell of bobcats.

Bobcats are omnivores, eating any animal they can catch. The white-shoe hare is the main prey of the bobcat. Bobcats can go for long periods of time without food, but will continue to eat when prey is abundant. When food is scarce, they will hunt larger animals to supply their needs later. Bobcats will stalk and ambush prey. They prefer to hunt mammals weighing 0.7-5.7 kg, and different prey are hunted in different regions. In the eastern United States, they mainly hunt wood rabbits, and in the north, mainly white-shoe hares. In the eastern United States, where both types of prey exist, the bobcat will hunt both. The bobcat hunts animals of varying sizes, changing its hunting tactics accordingly. For small animals, such as rodents, squirrels, birds, fish, and insects, the bobcat will go to areas where prey is plentiful, lie in wait, and ambush its prey. For slightly larger animals, such as rabbits and hares, it will stalk its prey until it is within 20 to 30 feet, then begin the pursuit. The bobcat will occasionally hunt larger animals, such as foxes, minks, weasels, small dogs, and domestic cats, and will occasionally kill livestock and poultry. Small sheep and goats are also attacked.

In southern North America, cotton rats replace rabbits and hares as the bobcat's primary food. In southern North America, the bobcat is an opportunist and will change its prey at any time. Studies have shown that their diet diversification is affected by the decline in the number of their main prey, and their overall diet can be determined by the number of their main prey.

The gestation period of the bobcat is 60-70 days, and the cats are born from April to May each year. Each litter has 1-6 pups, usually 2-4. Sometimes the second litter is born as late as September. Females usually give birth in enclosed places, such as small caves or tree holes. Kittens will open their eyes on the 9th-10th day and begin to explore the environment around them after about 4 weeks. They will be weaned after two months. After the 3rd-5th month, they will start to go out with their mother. They will start to hunt on their own at 8 months old before the winter of the first year, and will soon live alone. The average lifespan of a bobcat is 6-8 years old, and a few can reach more than 10 years old. The longest-lived bobcat in the wild is 16 years old, and the captive one is 32 years old.

The Bobcat is listed in Appendix II of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, which means that it is not in danger of extinction, but its hunting and trade need to be monitored. The Bobcat is regulated in the three countries where it is distributed. According to an estimate in 1988, the number of Bobcats in the United States ranged from 700,000 to 1,500,000, and there was an upward trend every year. Therefore, the United States has requested that the Bobcat be removed from the Convention. The number of Bobcats in Canada and Mexico is also stable. The World Conservation Union lists the Bobcat as not at risk, which shows that it is relatively widely distributed, but there is no clear statistics in southern Mexico. The Bobcat is endangered in individual states of Ohio, Indiana and Iowa. In 1999, it was removed from the endangered list in Illinois, and restrictions on its hunting were lifted in Pennsylvania. The bobcat population declined in New Jersey during the 19th century, primarily due to commercial and agricultural development that reduced their habitat, and was listed as endangered in the state in 1991. The Mexican bobcat was once considered endangered, but was delisted in 2005.

The bobcat is hunted for its fur and sport, but has managed to maintain its numbers. In the 1970s and 1980s, it was hunted heavily due to the rising value of its fur, but the price fell sharply in the early 1990s. Half of the bobcat's mortality rate is due to controlled hunting, so its population will drop significantly in the winter when hunting is open.

Listed in the 2008 Red List of Endangered Species of the World Conservation Union (IUCN) ver3.1 - Low Risk (LC).

Listed in the CITES II level protected animals of the Washington Convention.

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Distributed in Canada (British Columbia, Manitoba, New Brunswick, Ontario, Prince Edward Island, Quebec), Mexico, and the United States (Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming).
Bobtails are highly adaptable. They prefer to live in deciduous, coniferous, or mixed woodlands, but unlike other lynx species, they can be found in wet swamps to rugged mountains. They build dens near farmland, and their spots can serve as camouflage if they are in rock crevices, swamps, or forests.
The distribution of bobcats in Canada is affected by t

The Bobcat has a head-to-body length of 65-120 cm, a shoulder height of 45-58 cm, a tail length of 9-11 cm, and a weight of 5.8-13.3 kg. It is short and stocky, like other lynx species, but smaller. Their fur color varies, generally ranging from yellow-brown and gray-brown, light gray to reddish brown. The fur in the middle of the back is usually darker, but gradually becomes lighter as it turns to the abdomen. The body is inlaid with black or dark brown spots. These round spots can be used for camouflage.
The Bobcat's tail is short and thick, up to 15 cm long. The furry short tail is also dotted with some dark ring-shaped markings, and the tail tip is black. The Bobcat's ears are tipped with black and short tufts of hair. The face looks very wide because of the hair under the ears. The nose is pink, the cheeks and abdomen are beige or gray, and the back is yellow-red or maroon. The eyes are yellow with black pupils. The pupils are longer above and below, and they expand a