Bobcat

The bobcat is a lynx — one of four species in the genus Lynx — so the real comparison is with the Canada lynx, its northern relative. A Canada lynx is built for deep snow — it has very large, furry, snowshoe-like paws, long legs, thick pale grey fur, prominent black ear tufts, and it specialises almost entirely on snowshoe hares. A bobcat has smaller feet, shorter legs, a shorter and less uniformly dark-tipped tail, a spottier tawny coat, and a much broader diet and habitat range. Where the two overlap along the US–Canada border, the bobcat dominates in milder, less snowy country and the lynx in deep-snow boreal forest. The Eurasian lynx and the Iberian lynx are the other two members of the genus, both larger than the bobcat.

To people, almost never. Bobcats are small, shy, and avoid humans; verified attacks on people are extremely rare and are usually by a rabid animal or one that was cornered, trapped, or fed. There has never been a fatal bobcat attack on a human. To pets and small livestock, a bobcat is a genuine if occasional threat — it can and does take free-roaming cats, small dogs, chickens, rabbits, and the odd lamb or kid, particularly where natural prey is scarce or where people have habituated it by feeding. Keeping cats indoors, securing poultry at night, and not leaving pet food out are the standard precautions.

By ambush and precise killing technique rather than brute chase. A bobcat stalks to within a few metres or waits on a trail, then rushes and leaps onto the deer's back or neck, using its weight and hooked claws to hold on while it delivers a deep bite to the throat, suffocating the animal, or to the base of the skull. Deer are most vulnerable as fawns, when deep snow limits their movement, or when they are old or sick. A bobcat cannot eat a whole deer at once, so it gorges, then drags the carcass to cover and buries it under leaf litter or snow, returning to feed over several days.

The bobcat is an unusually flexible generalist. It thrives in almost every habitat in its range, from Everglades swamp to Sonoran desert to Appalachian forest to the chaparral canyons that run through Los Angeles. It eats whatever medium and small prey is available, adjusts its activity to avoid people, breeds well, and does not need large unbroken wilderness. Regulated fur trapping replaced the earlier unregulated slaughter, and in many states populations have grown and spread since the late 20th century, recolonising the Midwest and moving into suburbs. The main modern threats are localised — cars, secondary poisoning from rat bait, and mange outbreaks linked to rodenticide exposure.