Are There Wild Cats in Ohio? Everything You Need to Know!
Ohio is a gorgeous state full of farmland plains, rolling hills, and impressive rock formations. It is teeming with wildlife, from white-tailed deer to coyotes, raccoons, and opossums. But is Ohio home to any wild cats?
If you’re any type of college buff, you’ve probably heard of Ohio University, whose mascot is the bobcat—and for a good reason. The medium-sized, magnificent bobcat is the only wild cat species in Ohio.
All About Bobcats
Image Credit: Pixabay
Native to: Southern Canada, United States, Mexico
Appearance: Spotted, tufted ears, white underbelly
Weight: 15-40 pounds
Endangered Status: Least concern
The Bobcat, or lynx rufus, is a species of wild cat that stands alone as the king cat in Ohio. A little bigger than a housecat, they often hold a similar appearance to their cousins, the Canada lynx.
Bobcats are gorgeous, secretive creatures that are quite plentiful across North America. Even though they aren’t endangered, it’s very rare to see one, even if Ohio is your home state. Rural areas might experience bobcat sightings more often, but there’s no guarantee.
Physical Characteristics
To put it into perspective, bobcats are roughly twice the size of a traditional housecat. They have thick tawny fur with darker spots and tufted ears.
As adults, they can weigh up to 40 pounds. These agile hunters are all lean muscle and heavily insulated fur.
Image Credit: Pagespeed
Habitat
Bobcats take to forests and rocky areas in Ohio, roaming as solitary creatures most of the time.
Bobcats prefer areas of seclusion far from industrialization, though they can gravitate toward farms and small keeps due to smelling easy prey—like chickens, ducks, and other smaller farm animals.
Standard Behavior
Bobcats have an exciting set of behaviors that are opposite of many mammals. These creatures are solitary by nature, not needing companionship, packs, or long-term mates. They tend to only interact during breeding as adults.
Female bobcats are highly aggressive and territorial with other females in their asserted area. Males can be territorial with other males slightly, but it’s much less common.
Interestingly, there is no breeding season for bobcats. They can reproduce anytime throughout the year, but the peak is throughout the months of December and May.
Once a female is successfully pregnant, her gestation period lasts roughly 63 days. The babies are born fully furred with sealed eyes, usually in litters of one to six kittens. They start to open their eyes around the tenth-day mark on average.
Hunting Style & Diet
Bobcats are fierce hunters creeping silently through the woods, ready to pounce on their prey. They don’t like to share and one singular bobcat can rule over up to an 18-mile radius.
Stealthy and efficient, the Bobcat creeps silently toward their prey remaining out of sight until the crucial moment of acting comes about.
As far as diet is concerned it mainly consists of rabbits, birds, mice, squirrels, and other small animals.
Since these cats are such solitary animals, they usually don’t mess too much with industrialized areas. However, if you have easy target prey such as chickens and other small game, it might invite a bobcat to survey the scene. Once your bobcat realizes this is a plentiful food supply, they will be back.
In the event of bobcats attacking your livestock, it can become a nuisance and create financial loss to your business. However, resources and wildlife rehabilitation programs can help you with issues and attempt to relocate the animal.
Human Attacks
You might wonder if a bobcat is big enough to try to attack a human being. The general answer here is no. Bobcats would not have any reason to attack a human being because any human is too large to be easy prey. However, it would be best never to attempt to handle them or keep them as pets. Only licensed professionals should keep these creatures in any domestic situation.
Other North American Wild Cats
While there is only one wild cat in Ohio, there are six species of wild cat spread out across North America. Here’s a small list of details of the other five species found in the continent:
Cougar
Image Credit: Linzmeier1, Pixabay
Native to: Washington, Oregon, California, Nevada, Arizona, Utah, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, Nebraska, New Mexico, South Dakota, North Dakota, Texas, Florida
Appearance: Large, athletic body, gray to red coat, long tail, white markings
Weight: 135-175 pounds
Endangered Status: Least concern
Canada Lynx
Image Credit: Warren Metcalf, Shutterstock
Native to: Alaska, Canada, Northern States
Appearance: Tufted ears, grey to tan spotted coats, medium-sized muscular frames
Weight: 18-24 pounds
Endangered Status: Least concern
Ocelot
Image Credit: Pixabay
Native to: Southern Texas, Northern Mexico
Appearance: Spotted black and golden fur, stripes on cheeks, bright, round eyes
Mother bobcats have a direct hand in teaching their cubs to fend for themselves. They stay with her, starting the learning process at 5 months of age.
2. Bobcats are extremely territorial.
Bobcats really don’t like anyone infringing on their territory, so any unwanted guests should go—they won’t share their space or resources with others of their kind.
Because of a bobcat’s neutral color and mid-size, they can be mistaken for quite a few other woodland creatures. It isn’t unusual to misidentify a bobcat as a mountain lion, Canada lynx, and even a coyote or fox if you’re too far away to get a good look.
4. Bobcats are the smallest lynx in existence.
There are four types of lynx species in total, of which, the bobcat is the smallest in size:
Canada lynx
Iberian lynx
Eurasian lynx
Bobcat
5. Bobcats are travelers.
Bobcats don’t like to stay in one place. They have a general radius but never den in one cave for too long before growing bored and moving along.
Conclusion
Bobcats are a rare and beautiful sight in Ohio. While they prefer being tucked away from sight, you might get lucky enough to see one if you live in Ohio in a rural area. Also, tons of wildlife reserves have bobcats that have been wounded or are being rehabilitated on display for educational purposes.
Ashley Bates is a freelance dog writer and pet enthusiast who is currently studying the art of animal therapy. A mother to four human children— and 23 furry and feathery kids, too – Ashley volunteers at local shelters, advocates for animal well-being, and rescues every creature she finds. Her mission is to create awareness, education, and entertainment about pets to prevent homelessness. Her specialties are cats and dogs.
