📸 PhotoPhoto: Becker1999 (Paul and Cathy) · CC BY 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons Source
Bobcat
Lynx rufus (Bobcat · ボブキャット)
💡 Everyday Comparisons for Size, Mass & Speed
- 💡 Its running speed of 48 km/h is close to an urban road speed limit (50 km/h) (Comparison), and its maximum weight of 15 kg is lighter than a 20 kg bag of rice.
- 💡 In the past it was heavily hunted and trapped for its valuable pelt (ADW), and while foraging at night it may travel 3–11 km in a single outing (Smithsonian).
Reference standards: coach bus ~12 m, mid-size car ~4.9 m, compact car ~1 t, basketball hoop 3.05 m, credit card 8.56 cm.
Site-computed relative index from recorded values; not a formal scientific metric.
📖 1. Overview
The Bobcat is a medium-sized wild cat living from Mexico to southern Canada, adapting well to forests, deserts, and swamps.
🦴 2. Anatomy & Morphology
Its coat ranges from buff to brown with brown or black spots and stripes. It has short ear tufts, sideburn-like ruffs on the cheeks, and a short 'bobbed' tail as its name suggests.
🔍 3. Ecology & Behavior
It feeds mostly on rabbits and hares and also catches rodents, birds, and small deer, stalking prey before pouncing and biting the neck vertebrae. Gestation lasts 60–70 days, with litters of about 3 kittens at a time.
🇰🇷 4. Connection to Korea
No direct record connecting this species to Korea has been found.
📚 Sources & References
- • IUCN Red List LC (2016) — https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/12521/50655874
- • IUCN Red List category LC — latest assessment at iucnredlist.org
- • mammaldiversity.org — 1006009
- • iucnredlist.org — 50655874
- • wikidata.org — Q131907
- • commons.wikimedia.org — File:Bobcat at Columbus Zoo Boo.jpg
- • animaldiversity.org — Lynx rufus
- • nationalzoo.si.edu — bobcat
- • Silhouette: PhyloPic — author not recorded · CC0 1.0
Recorded dimensions are widely cited representative estimates from public literature and may vary by study or specimen.