Bobcat in Michigan
December 12, 2007
Sometimes when I’m not sure what Michigan in Pictures will be about, I look at my Michigan events calendar for inspiration. There were no events, but the calendar also shows hunting information. I saw that on Monday, Bobcat Trapping Season opened in northern Michigan. That jarred me enough to go looking for stuff about bobcats in Michigan.
In this closer view of the cat, BJ says that she photographed this bobcat the Blandford Nature Center in Grand Rapids, that he was taken in from Tennessee as an injured animal and that his name is BOB.
The very excellent University of Michigan Museum of Zoology’s Animal Diversity Web has information & photos about bobcat (Lynx rufus). You can find a lot more in the Wikipedia entry for Bobcat, which says that these cats are phenomenal climbers that are crepuscular (most active at twilight and dawn) and found all over North America. As to their size:
The adult male Bobcat is 28 to 47 inches long, averaging 36 inches; this includes a stubby 4 to 7 inch (10–18 cm) tail, which has a “bobbed” appearance and gives the species its name. An adult stands about 14 or 15 inches (36–38 cm) at the shoulders. Adult males usually range from 16 to 30 pounds (7–14 kg); females average about 20 pounds (9 kg). The Bobcat is muscular, and its hind legs are longer than its front legs, giving it a bobbing gait. At birth it weighs 0.6 to 0.75 pounds (280–340 g) and is about 10 inches (25 cm) in length. By its first year it will reach about 10 pounds (4.5 kg)
Don Harrison has several photos of a bobcat by the side of the road and also old postcards of a bobcat crossing the Military Rd near Stateline, MI and a bobcat at Lake Baldwin. Here’s a video of a bobcat crossing a bridge that gives you an idea of how these animals move.
Finally, any of you who were hoping for bobcat trapping are out of luck as the season is (permanently?) closed south of the bridge according to the DNR’s bobcat trapping page.
