Home & Garden

Mountain Lion vs Bobcat — Know the Difference

A mountain lion got stuck in downtown Santa Cruz Thursday morning.

Reporting by Jessica Mullins

A mountain lion was trapped in the Branciforte Creek channel Thursday morning, highlighting the proximity of wildlife to urban areas in Northern California. 

However, the incident was rare, and even spotting a mountain lion in the wild (or a local neighborhood) is slim, according to wildlife officials.

Zara McDonald, executive director of the Sausalito-based Felidae Conservation Fund, said that 85 to 90 percent of all lion sightings in California are not mountain lions. 

McDonald told Patch that mountain lions are “are not interested in people.” 

California has only had 16 verified mountain lion attacks since 1890 and the Bay Area hasn’t had any verified attacks since 1909.   

HOW DO YOU KNOW IF YOU SAW A MOUNTAIN LION OR BOBCAT? 
While bobcats may be frequently mistaken for their larger relative, they aren’t the only animal that can confuse those with a mountain lion phobia. “We’ve had people mistake Labrador Retrievers for mountain lions,” Rob Ruiz, Marin County Parks chief park ranger said, who added that it can be hard to identify an animal if you see it running into a bush quickly. 

Patch decided to outline the differences between mountain lions and bobcats, which are both bigger than house cats (you can also check out the above pictures to get an understanding of what lions and bobcats look like:

SIZE

  • Bobcats are about 30 inches long and weigh between 15 to 35 pounds, Ruiz said.
  • Mountain lions are usually 52 to 54 inches long and weigh between 100 and 175 pounds, he said.
TAIL
  • Bobcats have a short bobtail that’s about five inches long.
  • Mountain lions have a long and cylindrical tail with a dark tip. The tail is usually 30 to 36 inches long.
EARS 
  • Bobcats have tufted ears, where hair sticks up from the top of the ear.
COLOR
  • Bobcats are an orangish color and have black spots.
  • Mountain lions are uniform in color and have a tawny coloration (a tan Orangish-Brownish Color).
FOOD
  • Mountain lions mainly eat deer. (They can feast on one deer carcass for a week, hiding it in bushes and staying in the area. If you ever encounter a deer carcass in bushes with leaves and twigs on top of it, don’t stick around, Ruiz said.)
  • Bobcats feast on smaller creatures, such as rabbits, rodents and chickens.
Have you seen a mountain lion? Where did you spot it?


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