Bobcat Brings Home Dinner

Bobcat Brings Home Dinner

Did you know Bobcats (Lynx rufus) can stalk their prey up to seven miles away?

Although we were not able to watch this hunt take place, our game camera captured this bobcat’s victorious walk home with an Eastern Cottontail Rabbit as his dinner at the beginning of December. This Bobcat and Eastern Cottontail are an example of healthy individuals from stable populations supported by good habitats.

A bobcat’s diet is mostly made up of rabbits and hares, but they are also capable of taking down animals as big as deer. Bobcats are crepuscular, which means that they are mostly active during dusk and dawn. However, when seasons change, their hunting schedule may change as well. As their prey becomes more active during the winter days, they will adapt and hunt later hours into the day to increase their likelihood of getting a meal.

Bobcats are territorial and will create dens in hollow logs, other animal’s old dens, or caves. They may have multiple dens within their territory to increase the safety of themselves and their kittens. Bobcat kittens will begin to learn hunting skills when they are around six months old. After they are about a year old, they will leave their mother and adventure out on their own.

Bobcat kittens play.

Bobcat kittens play.

Eastern Cottontails (Sylvilagus floridanus) range from Eastern North America down into South America. They prefer a habitat that has grassy fields with some shrubs around the area for safety cover. This explains why we see so many Eastern Cottontails at Carolina Wildlands.

Although the bobcat and rabbit young are referred to by the same name – kittens or kits – baby bunnies develop much more quickly. The kits stay with their mother for about two weeks before they begin to explore on their own. By four or five weeks they are completely independent and will reach reproductive maturity at only two to three months.

Meadow Katydids

Eastern Cottontails (Sylvilagus floridanus)

Bobcats’ habitat ranges from southern Canada to Mexico. They can be found to be in forests, bushlands, and mountains. Although both the Bobcat and Eastern Cottontail Rabbit are currently considered to be Least Concern on the Conservation Status, we should still be looking out for these species. Their greatest threat is habitat loss. With forests and grasslands being developed or used for agricultural purposes, it takes away homes for the bobcats and safety for the rabbits.

So, while seeing this sequence of pictures of a bobcat with a dead rabbit may not be pleasant, it is great to see the natural process of wildlife taking place. A bobcat eating this rabbit is much better and more natural end of its life than being hit by a car or killed by a nonwildlife animal or human hunter.