Bobcats Can Have Long Tails!

Bobcats have tails! Yes, the bobcat has a an actual tail.

That might not seem worthy of the exclamation point there but it needs to be said emphatically.

Over the last few years I have examined at least a dozen bobcat photos people thought were cougars because the tail was longer than they expected.

Update: Here’s A Video About Black Bobcats And Long-Tailed Bobcats

I recently received this photo from South Carolina and posted it here.

This photo credited to Nathaniel Ohs was taken in South Carolina showing a bobcat with a very long tail.

Do you have any unusual bobcat photos? If so send them to chester@chestermoore.com

The video below shows a bobcat captured on a game camera by friends of mine in Orange County, TX.

Some bobcats have little powder puff looking tails but most stretch out 3-4 inches. This one is probably 8-9 inches in length. The one above may even be longer than this.

That is long for a bobcat but nearly as long as a cougar which has a tail 2/3 as long as their much larger than bobcat body. The one above looks as if the tail is around 1/2 body length which is radically large for a bobcat.

I have no scientific way of estimation but I daresay 75 percent of alleged cougar sightings in the eastern half of the United States are bobcats.

I know for a fact there are cougars there too but bobcats are far more numerous and I know from personal experience how many people think they have a cougar photo but find out it is a bobcat instead.

This is no fault of their own. Wildlife identification studies are not a priority at schools.

I appreciate any and all game camera photos and if you have some you would like to have evaluated email chester@chestermoore.com.

Bobcats are one of my favorite animals and I have had the pleasure to work with them in captivity, photograph them on many occasions and have probably seen 200 plus in the wild.

In fact on a peace of property near the set of John Wayne’s “The Alamo” near Bracketville, TX I saw five bobcats in one day.

Seeing them is fairly common for me but I always rejoice knowing I caught a glimpse of one of America’s most successful predators.

Chester Moore