Bobcat

Lynx rufus

By: Bridget Barber

CLASSiFiCATION:

Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Subphylum:Vertebrata
Class:Mammalia
Order: Carnivora
Suboder:Feliformia
Family:Felidae
Subfamily:Felinae
Genus: Lynx
Species: rufus

PHiSiCAL DESCRiPTiON:

Bobcats can be 65 to 105 cm. (bobcats got their name from their short tails). They are about 45 to 58 cm high at the shoulder and wheight between 4 and 5 kg. Bobcat fur can be many different colors of buff and brown, with dark brown or black stripes and spots on some parts of the body. the tip of the tail and the backs of the ears are black. They have short ear tuft, and ruffs of hair on the sides of their heads making it look like it has sideburns.

DiET and FEEDiNG HABiTS:

Bobcats are carrnivores. They watch their prey then attack ( if lucky) with a quick bite to the neck. They hunt rodents, rabbits, large ground birds and sometimes reptiles. They will sometimes eat small domesticated animals and birds.

REPRODUCTiON :

Bobcats only breed once a year. They usually will give birth to 1 to 6 kittens, bobcats don't have only one partner they have more than one. The mating systems of bobcats is similar to the one of domesticated cats. Bobcats mate in the early spring. A litter of about 3 kittens is born. They young open their eyes for the first time when they are 10 days old, and they leave their mother when they are about 8 months old; males do not help raise the young.

HABiTAT:

Bobcats are found in many different places, including forrests, deserts, brushlands, and the mountains. They sleep in dens, bobcats are found in North America from the southern part of Canada to sounthern Mexico. In the United States bocats are more likely to be found because their population is much higher in the southeastern region than the western states. They are also found in Maine. Not in the city, but more of the denser forrest areas.

ROLE iN ECOSYSTEM:

Bobcats are very important in the ecoysystem because they eat most everything if it's meat, or otherwize known as a carnivore. Bobcats have no natural predators other than humans. The only reason they apeal to humans is because of their fur. They make great fur coats. The bocat kittens are prey to most anything that is bigger than them and that apeals to them. Like Foxes, Large owls, and coyotes.

BiBLiOGRAPHY:

http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/site/accounts/information/Lynx_rufus.html