For me this is a really nice picture. The beautiful but persecuted American bobcat is here tucked up nicely inside a tree trunk. This looks like two mothers and their kittens having a peaceful and hopefully safe sleep. This is not a male and female with kittens. Disagree? Please leave a comment.
The average litter size for bobcats is 2.5 to 3.9 kittens.
“Shortly before giving birth, the female selects a well-hidden site – typically a rock pile, cave, brush pile of hollow tree – as a natal den…”
The young are nursed for about three months. She then brings back solid food during the 7th and 8th week. Kittens in dens are vulnerable to being killed. The are often moved by their mother. Sometimes this may be as frequently as one to six days. For older kittens the mother leads and the cubs follow in single file.
At 3-5 months-of-age, the kittens join their mother on hunts. At seven-months-of-age the kittens start to be independent. Male grow faster than females. Females reach adult size at 2.5-years-of-age. Males attain adulthood at 3.5-years-of-age.
The young disperse at varying ages. Some young leave the natal range at 9-months-of-age while for others it might be at aged 2.
The maximum recorded dispersal distance for the bobcat is 182 kms while some cats have travelled over 100 kms. Up to 40 kms is fairly common.
Note: the faces of the cats of the lynx family (4 species) are very similar but my assessment is that these are bobcats. Different opinion? Please tell me why in a comment.
what a great picture these cats look so natural so woodsy and irresistable
Nice picture. The one on top looks like an adult male to me though.
Last year I saw 3 of them one night where I work in North Central Florida. Obviously teenager siblings looking for food. Poor guys looked very skinny. They walked right in front of me as they crossed the main street of the community, which is adjacent to a forest.