BULLETIN FLORIDA STATE MUSEUM VOL. 33(4)


characteristics, home range, movements, activity patterns, habitat use, food
habits, social organization, and marking behavior of the bobcat in south-central
Florida. The study area consisted of a core area of completely protected
natural habitat surrounded by a semi-developed area typical of many parts of
Florida. This configuration allowed comparison of mortality rates and certain
other life history parameters in natural versus variously man-modified habitats.
Although bobcats in the part of the study area outside the protected core area
were at risk of being casually shot, they were not purposely hunted or trapped
for sport or the fur trade. Thus, for comparative purposes, the population can
be considered as unexploited. In addition, the core area was dominated by
relatively xeric vegetative associations that differ considerably from habitats in
northern Florida and elsewhere in the eastern United States in which bobcats
previously have been studied. A feline panleucopenia virus (FPLV) outbreak
during the course of the study also provided an unexpected opportunity to
observe the effects of disease on the ecology and social organization of a wild
carnivore population.
 The study area of approximately 200 km2 was located in Highlands County.
The protected core area was the 16 km2 Archbold Biological Station, 10 km
south of the town of Lake Placid (27011'N, 8121'W). The main period of the
study extended from January 1979 through March 1982, with incidental
observations made on marked animals through 1984.



 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS


 We thank Fred Lohrer for bibliographic assistance, Chester E. Winegarner for help in
handling and examining bobcats, Owen Minnick and Bert G. Crawford for aid in maintenance of
the tracking vehicle and telemetry equipment, Lilian Saul for assistance in data analysis, Dorothy
Carter for typing the manuscript, and J. F. Eisenberg and J. L. Wolfe for helpful comments on an
earlier draft of the manuscript. We were fortunate to have the opportunity to work with Hope
Ryden for several weeks in an intensive investigation of mother-kitten behavior on the study area
and profited greatly from her ideas and observations. We also are grateful to veterinarians J. H.
Causey, Citrus Animal Clinic, Lake Placid, Florida, and J. Carroll, J.C. Schwartz, and E. D.
Stoddard, Kissimmee Diagnostic Laboratory, Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer
Services, for aid in diagnosing the cause of death of bobcats. Support for this study was provided
by Archbold Expeditions, Inc.; Defenders of Wildlife, Inc.; The Roosevelt Memorial Fund of the
American Museum of Natural History; and Sigma Xi, the Scientific Research Society.