A bobcat kitten closely shadows its mother -- the only parent that bobcats know.
In the natural world, there are many species whose mated pairs work together to raise their offspring, with males and females contributing. Then there are other species in which the mothers do all the rearing themselves, with zero help from the fathers. Bobcats are good example of the single mother approach to raising young.
Bobcats (Lynx rufus) can be found throughout the Tehachapi Mountains, in all but the most arid or heavily forested areas. These highly adaptable wildcats can be found in oak woodlands, chaparral, farmland and even right around homes in outlying areas.
Because they are so stealthy, and normally silent, Bobcats can live largely undetected right around people and human activity. I have received many images over the years from readers who photographed bobcats that had unexpectedly turned up right on their patio, on their deck or in the yard.
Adult bobcats of both genders establish territories where they typically will spend their lives. The size of these territories varies greatly depending on the terrain and amount of prey available. Territorial establishment is vital to the bobcat population -- studies in Texas revealed that transient bobcats without territories, males and females alike, had no detectable offspring.
Bobcats typically mate in late winter or early spring, and after a gestation period of about two months, the female gives birth to two to four kittens in April or May. The mother finds a secluded place to have her young. In our area, this is typically a shelter within a boulder pile or rocky outcropping, or sometimes a fallen log or dense brush pile.
The mother bobcat nurses her young, and still must find time to hunt for herself. The favored prey of bobcats are desert cottontails and black-tailed jackrabbits, but they also eat a wide variety of rodents, including gophers, mice, rats and ground squirrels. Bobcats are formidable hunters who will take everything from birds to snakes to fawns when hungry.
After they are about a month old, Bobcat kittens start to eat meat that their mother brings them, in addition to continuing to nurse. A bobcat mother who is feeding herself and a growing litter of kittens is the most prolific hunter.
I remember growing up and hearing from old country people that a mother barn cat who is feeding kittens is the best mouser, and the same is true of bobcats. The hard-working mother bobcat is tireless, and even if she is a great hunter, she will still tend to grow lean with the demands placed on her body by nursing and providing for her family.
Mother bobcats, like female bears, must also keep an eye out for males, who may kill unrelated young so that the female will come back into estrus. Female bobcats are very wary about revealing the location of their young, and may move the kittens several times to new den locations as a precaution to prevent detection.
Little bobcat kittens first start to explore their surroundings just outside the den when they are about a month old. At this age, these future predators are still prey themselves, and must be alert to the dangers that lurk, even from the sky -- great horned owls are known to predate young bobcats.
When they are about three or four months old, bobcats begin to follow their mother on her explorations and hunting expeditions. This will continue for at least several months, and up until the following year.
This story is accompanied by photos, taken by my friend Toshimi Kristfof at her home in Bear Valley Springs, of a mother bobcat who brought her two offspring with her to get a drink from a water feature that Toshimi and her husband Les maintain. The kittens are only about half the size of their mother, but otherwise look like little clones of her. Toshimi says that a mother bobcat and her kittens appear every year around her house, so there must be a good denning site nearby.
It takes a lot of dedication and effort for the mother bobcat to raise her young all by herself, alone against the world without any help from the male sire, but she does a great job. Evidence of this is the fact bobcats continue to thrive, in the Tehachapi Mountains as well as throughout the United States.
Different creatures have different strategies to raise their young, and mother bobcats, like female hummingbirds, take on all the work themselves. I salute and thank all the single mothers of the world.
Have a good week.