Bobcat Size Comparison: How Big Is A Bobcat?
Size is a very important aspect of animal life. It has a direct bearing on their hunting, running, jumping, and survival capabilities. That’s why bobcat size is also very important to discuss. Generally, bobcats are almost double the size of domestic cats. The size of the bobcat also varies along the continental range. You will find large-size bobcats in the Northern hemisphere as compared to the southern hemisphere bobcats.
Bobcats are rarely seen in the wilderness but these cats are medium-sized felines larger than domestic cats but smaller than lynxes. We can also analyze the size of the bobcat by measuring the paw footprint size. However, it seems difficult to measure the exact size of the bobcats up to Fido. That’s why we have written this article to guide you about the exact size of a bobcat by comparing it with different species like cats, dogs, foxes, and wolves.
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How big are bobcats?
Bobcats are not very big size animals but larger than pet cats. An adult bobcat has an average weight of around 25 pounds. It could also exceed as much as 35 pounds and also be reduced to as little as 10 pounds. Still, they are heavier than domestic cats. When it comes to height, bobcats are 30 to 50 inches tall due to their long legs and they also come with 5 inches-long tails.
The habitat of the bobcat has also a very deep impact on its overall size. If they are facing extreme environments and not taking food and water properly then bobcats might lose weight. They could also become seriously sick and have a very short life span. Let’s have a bird’s eye view of the size of bobcats.
Bobcat size chart: Bobcat animal size
| Bobcat sizes | Baby | Male | Female |
|---|---|---|---|
| Height | 1-2 inches | 25-35 inches | 20-30 inches |
| Weight | 12 ounces | 20-40 pounds | 15-35 pounds |
| Length | 2-3 inches | 20-32 inches | 28-30 inches |
| Tail length | ¼ inches | Almost 6 inches | Almost 5 inches |
Bobcat height: how tall is a bobcat?
The height of the bobcat varies according to its age and maturity. For instance, the baby bobcat is just around 1 to 2 inches in size and it grows gradually until it reaches adult age and achieves full height. Male and female bobcats also vary in terms of their height. Males are taller than female bobcats. The maximum height that the bobcat can achieve is 35 inches.
Bobcat weight
The weight of the bobcat is also different for every age bobcat and also varies based on their gender. The baby bobcat is just around 12 ounces while the weight of the adult bobcat is almost 37 pounds. Male bobcats might be larger and could reach the maximum weight of 40 pounds.
Bobcat weights vary according to the environment or the habitat where they live. If they have to face some harsh conditions then they might have less weight as they could not get the proper diet in this kind of wilderness. On average, they weigh 25 pounds.
Bobcats who live in forest areas have more weight as compared to bobcats who live in the desert or urban areas. Usually, they like to eat animals like rodents, squirrels, and rabbits.
Bobcat length
Baby bobcats are just 2 to 3 inches. They have a maximum length of almost 32 inches. There is not much difference between the male and female bobcats in terms of their length. They could be a maximum of as long as 32 inches. However, the tail is not included in this length. Bobcats have very short tails. It could reach a maximum length of almost 5 or 6 inches. They are also easily identifiable from the smaller length of their tail.
Types of bobcats and their sizes
Bobcats or lynx Rufus are very well-known cats in North America. You can locate them from the northern cold climates of Canada to torrid and hot deserts in southern Mexico. There are several sub-species of bobcats. Let’s have a look at them.
- Californicus
- Escuinapae
- Floridanus
- Gigas
- Peninsularis
- Rufus
- Texensis
- Superiorensis
- Pallescens
- Fasciatus
- Oaxacensis
There is not any major difference in their physical appearances and sizes. They might have different color shades on their coat but all of them have bobbed tails which is their most distinguishable feature.
Bobcat size comparison
Now we are going to compare the size of a bobcat with different kinds of animals like house cats, dogs, wolves, and even human beings.
Bobcat size comparison chart
| Characteristics | Bobcat | House cat | Lynx | Human | Cougar | Dog | Fox | Wolf |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Height | 25-35 inches | 9 inches | 4 feet | 5.2-5.7 feet | 24-36 inches | 12-34 inches | 8-22 inches | 25-35 inches |
| Length | 20-30 inches | 1-1.25 feet | 2.6-4 feet | Nil | 3-5.5 feet | 2.5-3.5 feet | 17-36 inches | 3-5 feet |
| Weight | 20-40 pounds | 7-15 pounds | 40-45 pounds | 170-198 pounds | 70-170 pounds | 12-200 pounds | 5-30 pounds | 45-175 pounds |
| Paw size | 2.25 inches | 1.5 inches | 3.75-4.8 inches | 6.8-7.6 inches | 3-5 inches | 2.2 inches | 1.75-2.5 inches | 4.5 inches |
| Tail length | 5-6 inches | 8-9 inches | 8 inches | Nil | 2.5-3 feet | 1-2 feet | 11-22 inches | 1-2 feet |
Male vs female bobcat size
All the bobcat’s subspecies have almost the same size but female and male bobcats have some minor differences in their sizes. Male bobcats are almost 40 inches long from nose to tail and weigh anywhere around 10 to 35 pounds. On the other hand, female bobcats have a maximum length of 32 inches and weigh anywhere around 30 pounds.
Bobcat vs house cat size
There are a lot of similarities between the bobcat and domestic cat in terms of their general appearance but when it comes to size there are some differences that need to be discussed. Bobcats are called “big or wild cats”. These cats are larger than pet cats in terms of length, weight, and height. On average, the weight of a domestic cat is 7 pounds or it could maximum of 15 pounds but a bobcat weighs anywhere around 20 to 35 pounds.
Bobcats also have more height due to their long legs. Overall, length-wise bobcats are longer but bobcats have very small tails. The maximum length of the bobcat’s tail might be 5 or 6 inches. But the tail of the house cat is much longer than the bobcat.
lynx vs bobcat Size comparison
Bobcats have a lot of similarities with the lynxes especially the Canadian lynx from the North American region and the Eurasian lynx from the European region. Bobcats also sometimes share a habitat with the Canadian lynxes. Sometimes people are also confused about them as both look almost the same in their physical appearance.
However, the Canadian lynx is a little bit larger than the bobcat. Canadian lynxes are 4 feet tall due to their long legs. The tail of the Canadian lynx is also longer than the bobcat and is almost 8 inches in length. Canadian lynxes are also heavier than bobcats and the average weight of Canadian lynx is almost 45 pounds.
There are also differences in terms of their track size. Canadian lynx has a larger size paw and the resultant track size lies between 3.75 to 4.8 inches. Canadian lynx has to live in snowy type region and they need very powerful and large paw size to survive in this kind of habitat. Eurasian lynxes are larger than both bobcats and Canadian lynxes in terms of size, weight, and length.
Bobcat size compared to human beings
There is no one specific human size. It varies from birth until they become full-fledged adult human beings. The same is the case with bobcats, but there is such a larger growth as compared to human beings. If you are going to compare an adult bobcat to an adult human being then the bobcat would be any larger than the knees of any adult human being.
However, an adult human bobcat might show some similarities with the two years, kids, in terms of size. Despite having less size, it doesn’t mean that human beings could easily control or intimidate them if they come across them. It could be extremely dangerous and you might get yourself injured while doing it.
The average size of a human being is 5.7 feet while the average size of a bobcat is 35 inches or you can say 3 feet. It means that human beings are almost double the size of bobcats. I have personally experienced this thing while dealing with a pet bobcat and I got my arms and legs injured to the fierce nature of bobcats.
bobcat vs cougar size
Cougars or mountain lions are very large size wildcats. The size of the mountain lion is about two times larger than bobcats. On average, mountain lions have almost 30 inches in height and lengths between 3 to 5.5 feet. The track size is also big and lies between 3 to 5 inches.
Cougar has a much longer tail which lies between 2.5-3 feet in length. The size difference between bobcats and cougars is also easily observable from any visible point. Cougars have a lot of resemblances with lionesses same as bobcats’ resemblance with house cats.
bobcat size comparison with dog
It might be difficult to set any standard size for dogs as there are different breeds of dogs. To make a good comparison, we will compare bobcats with both the largest breed dogs as well as the smallest breed dog. Great Danes are very giant size dogs and they are almost 3 feet or 34 inches tall and weigh anywhere around 200 pounds.
It seems like these dogs are almost 5 times larger than bobcats. Thus, bobcats could not act as predators against them. The Bobcats will maximum reach at the chest of the great Danes when it comes to height. On the other hand, there is some smaller breed of dogs like Chihuahuas.
It seems like the weight of almost 3 or 4 combined Chihuahuas is equal to the weight of a bobcat. These dogs have just a height of almost 12 inches and weigh anywhere around 7 to 8 pounds. Thus, Chihuahua is almost the same as bobcats as the bobcats look like in front of Great Danes.
bobcat vs fox size
There is a variety of foxes in the North American region. However, the most prominent and larger foxes are red foxes. You also might be familiar with these foxes and their iconic red and whitetails. On average, the height of the red fox is anywhere around 20 inches which might match the height of the bobcats to some extent.
But there is no match when it comes to aggressiveness and fierceness, etc. That’s why bobcats are the natural predators of foxes in the North American region. There are a lot of similarities when it comes to weight. They have the almost same weight. The average weight of a red fox is almost 30 pounds which closely matches the weight of bobcats.
Red foxes are the largest fox species. We should also compare the bobcats with the smallest species named fennec foxes. These species are just 8 inches tall and weigh around 4 to 5 pounds. It is quite easy for the bobcat to catch these small foxes and eat them. These are easy prey for bobcats as well as badgers.
Bobcat size comparison with wolf
There are also different species of wolf and we will compare bobcats with both the largest and shortest wolf species. A full-grown or the largest wolf is named Mackenzie Valley wolf. It can be as tall as 35 inches and weigh anywhere around 175 pounds. It means a full-grown wolf is almost 5 times larger than the size of a bobcat.
On the other hand, the smallest specie of wolf is named the Arabian wolf. At first glance, you might take them as coyotes because they have a lot of similarities with coyotes in terms of their physical appearance as well as size. These wolves have a maximum height of almost 26 inches and weigh anywhere around 45 pounds. By looking at their size, we can easily analyze that these wolfs are still larger and heavier than bobcats.
Does the size of the bobcat matter?
Yes, the bobcat size really matters as it is highly helpful for them for doing various things like jumping, climbing, running, and hunting. The size of the bobcat impacts its speed, agility, and stealth capability. The survival of the bobcat also depends upon the size of the bobcat as the larger size bobcat can survive for a longer period and have a longer lifespan.
They also remain healthy and have much more weight than shorter-size bobcats. The ideal size of the bobcat is actually the main factor behind its stable population throughout the North American region.
How big do bobcats get?
Bobcats are very wild animals. It might be rare that these animals could be harmful to human beings but these animals are quite big and do many dangerous acts. Most people actually underestimate the size of the bobcat. They don’t know exactly how big can bobcats get. They don’t consider it large enough when compared with various other animals. It has been said that they are double the size of domestic cats.
The average weight of a bobcat might be 25 pounds but bobcats could be as heavy as 40 or 50 pounds. Once in Wisconsin, people found a dead bobcat. When it was weighed on the weight scale, it weighed 52 pounds. Since then, it had been declared the biggest bobcat ever found in the wilderness.
Texas bobcat size
There is an abundance of bobcats in every county of Texas, especially on the Southern side of Texas. South Texas Brush country is very much famous for the huge quantity of bobcats. Bobcats in Texas have slight differences in terms of their size and physical appearance.
They have a mixture of gray and brown color coats with a cream buff-like shade. The bobcats in Texas weigh in the range of 30 to 35 pounds. They have a very short tail of 5 to 6 inches long. Male bobcats are a little bit larger than female bobcats. Source.
Oklahoma bobcat size
Oklahoma is full of open fields and meadows. This is an ideal environment for the bobcats to thrive. That’s why you will find a lot of bobcats in Oklahoma. Bobcats could also easily find their prey in the huge abundance of wildlife animals like turkeys, quail, and small size mammals.
Bobcats can easily hunt down their favorite animals like rabbits, squirrels, mice, rats, etc. According to Oklahoma official sources, the average size of the bobcats in Oklahoma is 26 to 40 inches in length and 12 to 30 pounds in weight.
Oregon bobcat size
Oregon is a thriving ground for bobcats where they can easily find their favorite prey. Scientists have also found the footprints of many big bobcats from Oregon state. You will find not only bobcats but also several other subspecies of bobcats in Oregon state.
You will find a lot of bobcats in the open fields and grasslands of Oregon except for higher altitude and mountainous areas where the human population lives.
Frequently asked questions
Conclusion
We have deeply analyzed the bobcats in terms of all the aspects of their sizes. All the bobcat body parts like their height, weight, length, and tail length were explained in detail. We have also done bobcat size comparisons with other animals like dogs, cats, wolfs, foxes, cougars, and even humans. By making this comparison, we have concluded which animals are bigger than bobcats and which ones are smaller than bobcats, and also who are predators of bobcats and on whom bobcats can prey.
