Bobcat

Daniel Rosa
EAP2 051

General information about bobcats
Size: Adult males average 25 pounds, while adult females average 15.
Home range: Adult males occupy a 36-square mile territory, while adult females live in a 12-square-mile area.
Breeding: Two to four kittens are born in dens in caves, hollow trees or barns. Their mother rears kittens. Male kittens between the ages of 1 and 2 venture off to stake out his own territories.
Diet: Bobcats mainly hunt mice, vole’s squirrels, rabbits and entrails left by deer hunters.
Life expectancy: Up to 12 years, although under optimal conditions, bobcats could live 15 to 20 years.

Bobcats were found in Illinois in 1800. Hunting them and the change in their habitat decreased their populations. They have been put on the threatened list since 1971. According to hunter’s reports in 1990, the bobcat population increased. Bobcats are usually quiet but can make low growls or high-pitched screams. Squalls, howls, meows, and yowls are sometimes heard during the mating season, when they tend to be more vocal than at other times of the year. Captive bobcats have been known to purr. The same is probably true for wild ones.
The good thing about the bobcat living in Illinois, is that they are protected and no one can hunt them. Coyotes, domestic Dogs, Hawks, and Owls are usually the bobcat’s cause of death as well as car accident.
Bobcat and many other animals across the nation need our attention.
If we save the animal’s habitat, stop hunting them, and stop cutting the trees we can recover what the human being did to the environment. In 1999, bobcats were removed from Illinois' list of state threatened species because scientific studies confirmed their wide distribution and growing numbers.