When someone finally captured a photograph, the “tiger” was clearly a bobcat.īobcats have been photographed on campus numerous times. So if you see an unfamiliar tan cat you think cougar.”Ĭase in point: Early last fall the Internet went crazy over sightings of a tiger in Knoxville, Tennessee. “Unless you have a fair amount of experience with both, it’s hard to assess the size difference. “Bobcats get mistaken for mountain lions all the time,” said Anne Hilborn, a postdoctoral scholar in the Department of Evolution, Ecology, and Organismal Biology who studies cheetahs and other big cats. How can something small enough to fit on a person’s lap be confused for something big enough to kill a deer? Bobcats hunt small animals, like rabbits, and are common throughout North America. They sport shaggy, tan coats with spots that might not be noticeable from a distance and a short, stubby tail about 4-6 inches long.
Bobcats fall somewhere between a very large housecat and a medium-sized dog in size-12-24 inches tall and 9-40 lbs. Females and males both vaguely resemble a slender African lioness and prefer to hunt deer.
(Sarah Guerere for California Department of Fish and Wildlife)Īdult mountain lions, also called cougars or pumas, are about 2-3 feet high at the shoulder and weigh 64-220 pounds, depending on sex, with close-cropped, smooth, tawny coats and a long, cylindrical tail. Drawing of a mountain lion (top) compared to a bobcat (center) and housecat (bottom).