BOBCAT IN Southern California

The bobcat (scientific name Lynx rugus) pictured here is one of four extant species of wildcats. Lynx is native to North America (southern Canada, all of the USA, Baja California Mexico, Mexico, and northern Central America. These cats become smaller in size southward. Georgia, Texas, and California have high numbers of these cats. In total, there are about 35 species of bobcats.

These cats, which live in chaparral, brush, swamps, and forest areas. They are solitary and usually nocturnal. They are opportunistic feeders, but their main prey is rabbits, mice, rats, squirrels, and ground-dwelling birds. They can climb trees. They are mostly active at night (= i.e., they are crepuscular). 

They are very efficient hunters with long, sharp, completely retractable claws, very powerful jaws, and dagger-like canines. Males and females look alike. Both have a short tail. Bobcats are usually to 30 pounds or so in weight. Definitely do not “mess” with them. Just leave them alone and have control of your dog or dogs.

Figure 1. A mature bobcat recently spotted in the city of Santa Clarita, Southern California  Note: This species has black bars on the forelegs. These bobcats can weigh up to 40 pounds and be up 50 inches long, including the tail). Also, its hind prints usually fall directly on top of its fore prints.

Many years ago, while doing geologic mapping, I came across a bobcat in open country in the hills along the north side of Simi Valley, southern California. The animal was as scared as I was and took off in a hurry. 

The on-going construction of vast housing tracts (with closely spaced homes, in previously beautiful hilly “open country”) has undoubtedly severely displaced native mammals, such as the bobcat.

Classification

Kingdom Animalia

Phylum Chordata

Class Mammalia

Order Carnivora

Family Felidae

Genus Lynx

Type Species L. rufus

Bobcats hunt rabbits but will also eat chickens, geese, and birds, as well as rodents and deer. 

Bobcats evolved from the Eurasian lynx, which crossed into North America via the Bering Land Bridge during Pleistocene (about 2.6 million years ago).

References

Macmillan Illustrated Animal Encyclopedia, 1984. Macmillan Publishing Company, New York. 600 pp. 

Wikipedia, 2026.