Saving New Jersey’s Endangered Bobcats

New Jersey was once home to two different species of wild cats—the mountain lion, or cougar, and the bobcat. Mountain lions once roamed the whole state, but the last of their population was wiped out in southern counties in the mid 1800s, leaving bobcats as the only native wild feline. Over time, hunting, car strikes and habitat loss decimated New Jersey’s bobcats and they went locally extinct in the 1970s.

Conservationists pulled together in the 1980s, reintroducing 24 bobcats from Maine into New Jersey’s northwestern forests in an attempt to reestablish a viable population and balance the ecology. Since that time, bobcats have been trying to regain a foothold as the only remaining wild cat in our habitats.

The Nature Conservancy is leading an initiative to create Bobcat Alley, a nature stronghold where bobcats can flourish. The effort includes protecting habitat in New Jersey’s section of the Appalachians—along the mountains themselves and in a greenway that links the Kittatinny Ridge and the Highlands.

Bobcats are territorial and need to roam up to 7 miles per day, so the project is critical for their survival as they navigate our heavily populated state, which remains under constant pressure of landscape fragmentation from roads and development. The protected corridor is also of outsized importance on a continental level, as a migratory pinch-point along the entire Appalachians that connects forested migratory routes between Central and Northern sections of the range.

Bobcats are one of the last vestiges of true wilderness in New Jersey. Get to know this charismatic species with some fun facts, then download and print our free bobcat coloring sheet for the kids!

1. There are estimated to be about 250 bobcats living in New Jersey, compared to more than 600,000 domestic cats. Car impacts are the main cause of bobcat mortality in our state as the felines try to survive among our dense network of roads and highways, and they remain on New Jersey’s state endangered species list.

2. Bobcats are shy and prefer to stay away from people. If you are lucky enough to encounter one, you will usually be seeing their namesake 4-6 inch bobbed tail as they run away from you.

3. Bobcats share the night vision and sensitive whiskers of house cats but are 2 to 3 times bigger—and much faster. They can run at speeds up to 30 miles an hour, and are excellent swimmers.

4. Bobcats have an annual litter of 1 to 6 kittens. They usually learn to hunt by 5 months of age, and are fully independent at 8 months old.

5. By eight weeks of age, all bobcats develop black fur with a white spot on the backs of their ears. Many, but not all, will also grow small black tufts on each ear tip.

6. With the exception of females raising kittens, bobcats are solitary animals that hunt primarily at night, with peak activity at dawn and dusk. They can leap as far as 12 feet!

7. The species requires large areas of a habitat to find mates and a steady supply of food. Their favorite menu includes rabbits, hares, squirrels and other rodents, and birds.

8. The scientific name of bobcats that are native to North America is Lynx rufus. Canada lynx (Lynx canadensis) are a related, but separate species. The Iberian lynx and Eurasian lynx are found in Europe and Asia.