E-Book Overview
<em>Bobcat: Master of Survival tells the story of the most adaptable and resilient wild feline in the world. While half the wild cat species worldwide are in danger, the bobcat is thriving, even expanding its range in North America. Why are bobcats flourishing when so many other wild felines are advancing towards extinction? The book explains how scientists apply the latest in wildlife research technology to probe this diminutive predator's habits and behavior. The reader is invited inside the bobcat's world to see how they hunt, kill prey, raise their young, coexist with humans, and deftly navigate the endless obstacles to survival. The bobcat is both the most studied and the most exploited wild feline in the world. Millions have been killed for the fur trade. They were the focus of major controversy in the 1970s that transformed international conservation of wild felines. The book discusses how economics and politics play a far greater role in bobcat management and conservation than does science. Bobcat is the most comprehensive and up-to-date book on the natural history and management of bobcats to appear in 40 years.
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Bobcat: Master of Survival
Kevin Hansen
OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS
BOBCAT
Kevin Hansen
B O B C AT
1 2007
Master of Survival
3 Oxford University Press, Inc., publishes works that further Oxford University’s objective of excellence in research, scholarship, and education. Oxford New York Auckland Cape Town Dar es Salaam Hong Kong Karachi Kuala Lumpur Madrid Melbourne Mexico City Nairobi New Delhi Shanghai Taipei Toronto With offices in Argentina Austria Brazil Chile Czech Republic France Greece Guatemala Hungary Italy Japan Poland Portugal Singapore South Korea Switzerland Thailand Turkey Ukraine Vietnam
Copyright © 2007 by Oxford University Press, Inc. Published by Oxford University Press, Inc. 198 Madison Avenue, New York, New York 10016 www.oup.com Oxford is a registered trademark of Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of Oxford University Press. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Hansen, Kevin. Bobcat : master of survival / Kevin Hansen. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN-13 978-0-19-518303-0 ISBN 0-19-518303-7 1. Bobcat 2. Wildlife conservation. I. Title. QL737.C23H3546 2006 599.75'36—dc22 2006000071 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Printed in the United States of America on acid-free paper
For Bertle Daniel Hansen, Jr. 1922–2005 I should have written faster.
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Foreword
The fall of 1953, the year I acquired a driver’s license, I spent most weekends hunting desert rabbits and quail north of Cave Creek, Arizona. Where every twotrack left the main Bartlett Dam road I found stacks of skinned fox, coyote, and bobcat carcasses. Some contained the bodies of 15 or 20 animals. These gruesome cairns were constructed by federal trappers to show the public how well they were doing their work. My upbringing was rather uninformed and neutral regarding predator control, and I at times even fantasized about becoming a trapper. Being paid to hunt and trap seemed rather an idyllic life. Nonetheless, I remember feeling, even then, that something wasn’t quite right about such indiscriminate killing of these small predators. I also remember being surprised at the number of bobcat carcasses in the piles. In all of my days afield, I never saw a bobcat; I was not yet tuned into their tracks and sign. I had assumed the cats were relatively scarce. Only after completing college and becoming a wildlife biologist for the Arizona Gam