WASSMER ET AL.: SOUTH-CENTRAL FLORIDA BOBCAT ECOLOGY 203

elsewhere in the natal range was on 22 February when their tracks were found
together in a region of the adult range 1 and 3 km from their respective areas.
We last observed tracks of the juveniles within the mother's range in mid-
April, and Winegarner (1985a) could not find their tracks in June and July.
The adult gave birth to a new litter on or about 1 April, indicating that females
may mate and bear young while juveniles of their previous litter are still within
the natal range. Adult female F1 also was apparently still associated with one
or more juveniles of her April 1981 litter in December 1981 after the birth of a
new litter in mid-October, based on observations of her tracks accompanied by
those of a young individual. Evidence for breeding while still associated with
young of the last litter was not confined to the semi-tame female. F9 was
observed on 30 November 1980 with one of her two kittens born in mid-April
and gave birth to her next litter in early January 1981. Based on a 2-month
gestation period (McCord and Cardoza 1982) mating probably occurred in
early November.
 Winegarner (1985a) also monitored female F1 and her older young in 1981
(see above) by means of tracks. She believed that the mother actually
abandoned the portions of her range occupied by the juveniles, then
reoccupied the areas following dispersal of the young. She concluded,
therefore, that dispersal of juvenile bobcats is preceded by "a period of
solitude" in the natal home range and this "temporary tenure" of the young in
the mother's range "insures that the home range is occupied." Although she
did not elaborate as to why establishment of exclusive home ranges by young at
the edge of the adult female's range is necessary to insure its occupancy, she
may have assumed that breeding females during late pregnancy and early
postnatal care of the young reduce their home range and that the presence of
their older young at the periphery helps to hold the area against other bobcats
so that the female can reoccupy it when her new litter is old enough to travel
with her. Our combined radiotracking and trailing data do not support this
interpretation. Although the female tended to visit the periphery of her range
less frequently and for shorter periods for about 2 months after the birth of her
litter in April, radio fixes regularly placed her in the area where the activity of
the juveniles was concentrated during this period. In addition, by searching for
her tracks in areas where she had been radio located the previous night, it was
confirmed that she continued to mark her former range boundary in these
areas. Although the last contact between F1 and her old juveniles, based on
close proximity of adult and juvenile tracks, recorded by Winegarner (1985a)
was in late January, we observed evidence of the adult and one or both young
in the same area on two nights in late February. On one of these occasions the
female and both young were in an area remote from the areas in which the
young were usually found (see above). Our data, therefore, indicate that the
young did not establish exclusive home ranges prior to dispersing from the
natal area and suggest that the young probably did not play a significant role in