WASSMER ET AL.: SOUTH-CENTRAL FLORIDA BOBCAT ECOLOGY


marsh rabbit, and cotton rat did not differ significantly (X2 tests, p > 0.05)
between years for years with adequate samples of scats (1971-1975, 1979).
 Of the scats analyzed, 40% contained grass or other vegetation. In 9.6% of
the scats, vegetation comprised from 10 to 40% of the volume of the scat. The
high frequency and quantity of plant material in scats suggest that it was
intentionally consumed in some cases. Plant material had a frequency of
occurrence of 11% and comprised 4.4% of the volume of bobcat stomach
contents from other Florida localities (Maehr and Brady 1986). Young (1958)
noted that wild fruits, principally of cactus (Opuntia), occurred (5%) in a
Florida bobcat stomach collected in April. Kight (1962) reported that grass
made up 11.2% of the diet of bobcats in South Carolina and suggested that it
was deliberately rather than accidentally eaten.
 In addition to the scat analysis, occasional observations were made on foods
and feeding behavior on the core study area. Bobcats were seen carrying a
cotton rat on one occasion and a black rat on another. The semi-tame
individual was once seen springing out of hiding in a palmetto thicket in an
unsuccessful attempt to catch a cottontail, and twice individuals were observed
chasing gray squirrels, once in a tree and once on the ground. On two days in
November 1979, Hope Ryden (pers. comm.) followed the semi-tame female
(Fl) in the field to observe her hunting methods. The cat tended to walk along
trails and would stop and listen intently when she heard a sound off the trail,
then stalk slowly in that direction. She once stalked an armadillo (Dasypus
novemcinctus) by sound, but lost interest when she saw what it was. On
another occasion, Ryden (1981) watched the bobcat kill a raccoon and take it
to her young. Another instance of predation on raccoons in the core area by a
different bobcat was observed by C. E. Winegarner (pers. comm.) in March
1982. A juvenile raccoon released from a live trap was caught by the bobcat as
it entered the woods a short distance away. The bobcat held the raccoon by
the throat as it squalled and struggled violently. The bobcat dropped the
raccoon when it saw the observer, but apparently returned and recaptured the
raccoon after the observer left the area, as he heard the raccoon squalling
again. In April 1982, a deer (Odocoileus virginianus) that had been hit by a car
was fed upon and sparsely covered with dry grass by a bobcat. The only record
of non-mammalian or avian prey of bobcats on the study area, was an
observation in July 1981 of the semi-tame female killing a large adult
southeastern five-lined skink (Eumeces inexpectatus). She slowly stalked the
lizard, which was moving around at the edge of a clump of palmettos, from
about 6 m away then rushed it from about 1.5 m. It ran under a pile of dry
grass and the bobcat spent 3-4 minutes chasing the lizard before she caught it.
She would stand still, listening intently, then pounce on a spot with her feet and
push her snout into the grass. After catching and killing the lizard she carried
it to a nearby shady spot, then abandoned it and moved on.