http://www.ck12.org Chapter 11. Understanding Biodiversity: Animals: Mammals
Biology
Cell Biology
The bobcat, like all living multicellular organisms, has eukaryotic cells to function. The important parts of a
eukaryotic cell are the nucleus and organelles. The nucleus holds the bobcats’ DNA. In the word organelles, is
“organ”- they are like body organs in that different cell parts do different things. The ribosomes help with making
proteins. Surrounding the cell, the cell membrane holds the cell with anything else in it being cytoplasm. Other
organelles are the mitochondria, the Golgi bodies, and the lysosomes. The mitochondria’s process is respiration and
energy production. Golgi bodies are an organelle in the cell which gathers molecules within the cell (in particular
simple ones) and combines them to make new molecules (complex ones). Then it holds the new molecules in
vesicles, then goes to store the newly created molecules or sends them throughout the cell. The lysosomes are small
organelles throughout the cell that break down unwanted materials using enzymes held within it. All three of these
organelles are in most animal eukaryotic cells.
Evolution
The bobcat is a mammal, which evolved from the cynodonts. The believed ancestor of the placental mammals is the
Eomaia.
Ecology
The male and female bobcat have very few predators. Humans, cougars, gray wolves, and sometimes coyotes will
kill both kitten and adult bobcats. The kitten are killed by owls, eagles, or foxes. The other ways bobcats can die are
diseases, hunters, starvation, automobiles, and accidents. Bobcats might have external parasites like ticks and fleas,
plus the parasites of their prey, rabbits and squirrels. Internal parasites, (endoparasites) are common in bobcats.
Fifty-two percent of bobcats have Toxoplasmosis gondii, a type of endoparasite. Lynxacarus morlani is only found
in bobcats.
Bobcats eat a variety of prey like amphibians, reptiles, birds, and mammalian prey. They can kill anything that
weighs 1.5 pounds to 12 pounds. Cottontail rabbits are the primary prey for bobcats except for bobcats in Minnesota
and New England, where the primary prey is white tailed deer and snowshoe hare. The bobcats are meat eaters.
They will stealthily stalk their prey, pounce, and if successful, they kill the prey with a bite to a neck vertebra or
closer. Bobcats are very important in the food chain. The only known predators of bobcats are the red fox, coyotes,
and large owls. The bobcats prey on over 50 different species. Open patches of land make prey easy to catch and
make prey vulnerable to attack. Most bobcats breed in February and March. The breeding seasons vary depending
on longitude, latitude, climate and altitude. Female bobcats mature at one year of age. Males mature at two years
of age. Both can reproduce throughout their lives from that point on. Bobcat liters are usually two to three cats per
liter. Bobcats are born eyes closed. They open around the first eleven days. Juvenile bobcats get released from their
mom during the first fall or spring. Most bobcats live for 2-5 years in wild, and some can live 15 years.
Anatomy and Physiology
The bobcat’s anatomy is like a cat’s. It walks on all fours and is a very locomotive creature. With its outer layers, it
has fur, most is colored light brown, with marks of black or brown. It has tufts of hair on top of ears. It has lighter
hairs on the belly and has some dark marks on the face. It has a short tail barred with black. It has long legs, with
big paws for easier movement, it being a cat. The front paw print is about the same size as the hind leg paw print,
the hind leg being slightly smaller. The bobcat has every body part a housecat has, just larger. It has whiskers, tall
pointed ears, and other similarities to a housecat. The bobcats’ average sizes are 8.9-13.3 kg for adult males, and