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Diet and Hunting | |
| Description
Reproduction Author: Bryan Gullion
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The bobcat’s diet mostly consists of rodents and rabbits. Deer make up a large portion of a bobcat’s diet in the winter. A bobcat’s diet can be very diverse as seen in a study in Florida which examined the stomachs of 413 bobcats and found 18 different mammal species, 14 kinds of birds, and even two reptiles (Turbak, 1996). The bobcat hunts one of two ways moving or sitting still. The bobcat will stalk or ambush their prey depending on what the prey is; this is done to minimize energy usage. These cats hunt by sight and sound, not smell, and are sprinters that must abandon a chase if it last too long. The bobcat’s amazing power is shown when it brings down a deer, that can more than quadruple the weight of a bobcat (Turbak, 1999). |