Big bobcat stalking deer

[buck wild]

Last week, I had a nice encounter with a big, South Texas bobcat while sitting in a blind. I'm fairly positive it was honed in on this very old, poor-looking doe, but there were other "prey" around, including other deer, a pig, and many rabbits. I let it walk off into the S Tx brush, just happy for the experience.

 

[uplander01]

Nice looking kitty. After having a large male housecat for the first time and watching him mess with the dog (80lb Spinone) one develops a true sense of how good a predator they are.

 

[PARA45]

Beautiful, and how well they camouflage with the surroundings. He even had time to mark his territory.

 

[Red Leg]

What a truly rare thing to get on video.

 

[towserthemouser]

Nice looking kitty. After having a large male housecat for the first time and watching him mess with the dog (80lb Spinone) one develops a true sense of how good a predator they are.

@uplander01 I well remember a college Biology professor showing us the range of felid skulls from house cat to tiger, and stating that their predation is limited only by the size of their skull/bite by species. In other words, they can and will take down anything that they are big enough to bite.

Felids also have very large and well developed shoulder and forelimb musculature with a highly mobile scapula, which allows them to grapple prey as they drive their large canines into skull, neck, or throat. Contrast with canid shoulder architecture which is much less mobile and is designed for long-distance running (think wolves or African wild dogs running down prey over long distances).

When you consider that lions combine all these traits with the additional advantage of cooperative group hunting strategies...... you understand why they are so formidable. And we haven't even spoken of the highly effective camouflage found in leopards and many felid species.

I often think of the saber-tooths....... for example Smilodon populator from S. America was thought to weigh up to 960 lbs. with more highly developed forelimb musculature than modern cats, and with canines up to 11" in length. Can you even imagine what a fearsome predator they must have been?