BULLETIN FLORIDA STATE MUSEUM VOL. 33(4)


Brittell et al. 1979; Fritts and Sealander 1978; Johnson and Holloran 1985), but
available data are insufficient to provide an adequate basis for interpopulation
comparisons in frequency of early breeding in females.
 The semi-tame female (Fl) had 4 litters (April 1979, May 1980, April 1981,
 October 1981) over a 31-month period. She also produced a litter during each
 year from 1976 to 1978 (Winegarner and Winegarner 1982). Thus, she
 typically bore only one litter per year, although two were produced in 1981.
 The second 1981 litter was not the result of recycling following the loss of a
 recently-born litter, as young of the first litter were seen with her until
 September, and there was circumstantial evidence that at least 1 of them
 remained in her range until December. Although the female was occasionally
 artificially provisioned and thus may have been in a better nutritional state than
 the typical wild female, this case suggests that bobcats in the southern part of
 the range occasionally may be capable of producing two litters in a year,
 although one is the norm. Estimated birth intervals for two other females (F8,
 F9) that produced two litters while being monitored were 8 months in both
 cases (April-January and May-estimated February).

 Mortality and Injuries.- Of the 17 instrumented bobcats, 9 were known to
have died between April 1979 and August 1982, including 5 of 6 adult males, 2
of 7 adult females, and 2 of 4 juveniles. The other juveniles of a litter of three
disappeared at the same time one died, suggesting that all three perished.
Including these two individuals, the mortality rate during the 40-month period
was 54% for adults, 80% for juveniles, and 56% for all marked cats. In
addition, nine unmarked bobcats (4 adult males, 2 adult females, one juvenile
male, one juvenile female, and one unsexed juvenile) died or were found in a
moribund condition in or adjacent to the study area between January 1979 and
August 1982.
 Including both known and probable deaths and causes, 8 of the 17
instrumented bobcats were killed by feline panleucopenia infections and 3 by
vehicles. Of the 9 unmarked individuals, 5 (2 adult males, 1 adult female, 1
juvenile male, 1 juvenile female) were killed on roads, 2 adult males were shot,
1 unmarked juvenile (sex unknown) was killed by dogs, and 1 adult female with
a severe case of Notoedric mange died within a few minutes of capture. The
last individual was weak and extremely emaciated (5.3 kg vs. mean adult female
weight of 7.9 kg) and undoubtedly would have soon died if she had not been
captured. She had been periodically observed in the study area over a 5-week
period before capture, during which time she became progressively thinner and
weaker. Three females (F4, F10, Fll) among the animals live-trapped and
radio-collared from July 1979 to March 1980 also had scabby areas with sparse
hair or bare patches on the head, neck, or shoulders, suggesting a current or
former mild mange infestation. The partially decomposed carcass of an adult
male (M2) found in November 1979 also had similar bare patches on the inside