Bobcat vs Lynx: How to Tell Them Apart in the Wild

Key differences at a glance

The bobcat and the Canada lynx are close relatives in the same genus, Lynx, and they look alike: both are medium-sized cats with short tails, tufted ears and facial ruffs. Both are listed as Least Concern by the IUCN. Yet they are adapted to very different worlds. The bobcat is a flexible generalist of forests, swamps, deserts and suburbs, while the Canada lynx is a deep-snow specialist of the northern boreal forest that lives mainly on snowshoe hares.

In the field, check these features in this order: tail tip, ear tufts, feet, legs and coat. One feature alone can mislead, especially in poor light or on a trail camera, but together they are reliable.

Tail: the best single clue

Both cats have stubby tails, but the color pattern differs. The bobcat’s tail is usually 9–20 cm (3.5–8 in) long, barred with dark bands, and black only on the upper side of the tip; the underside is white. When a bobcat walks away, you often see this white underside.

The Canada lynx’s tail is even shorter, about 5–13 cm (2–5 in), and its tip is completely black, as if dipped in ink. It has little or no barring. This “dipped” tail is the most reliable way to identify a lynx in photos.

Ears, face and paws

Lynx have long, black ear tufts about 4 cm (1.5 in) long, which stand out clearly against the sky. Bobcat tufts are short and sometimes barely visible. Both have cheek ruffs, but the lynx’s are longer and hang down in winter like a beard.

The feet are an even more striking difference. A Canada lynx has enormous paws covered in thick fur, which spread on soft snow like snowshoes; they can support almost twice as much weight as a bobcat’s before sinking. In dirt, a lynx track is about 7.6–9.5 cm (3–3.75 in) long, and in snow it looks even bigger. A bobcat track is typically only about 4–5 cm (1.5–2 in) across, with clear toe pads.

Size and build

The two species weigh about the same. Bobcats typically weigh 4–18 kg (9–40 lb) and Canada lynx 5–17 kg (11–37 lb), with males larger than females in both. The lynx, however, looks bigger and lankier because of its long legs, deep fur and big feet. Its hind legs are longer than its forelegs, so its back slopes down toward the shoulders.

The bobcat is more compact and muscular, with shorter fur. In the south of its range, a bobcat can be noticeably smaller than any lynx, while the largest bobcats from New England and eastern Canada can be heavier than an average lynx. For more numbers, see how big is a bobcat?

Note that “lynx” can also mean the Eurasian lynx of Europe and Asia, which is much larger: males often weigh 18–30 kg (40–66 lb). It never meets the bobcat in the wild.

Coat and color

Bobcats are usually tawny, buff or reddish-brown with obvious dark spots on the body and black bars on the front legs. Desert bobcats are pale and northern ones darker, but the spots are almost always clear.

Canada lynx are grayish or yellowish-brown with a silvery, grizzled look, especially in their long winter coat. Spots are faint or absent, except sometimes on the legs and belly. A plain gray cat with long ear tufts in deep snow is almost certainly a lynx.

Habitat, range and where they overlap

Bobcats range from southern Canada through nearly all the contiguous United States to Oaxaca in Mexico. Canada lynx live across Alaska and the boreal forests of Canada, with smaller populations in the northern United States: Maine and northern New England, northern Minnesota, the northern Rockies, the Cascades of Washington, and Colorado, where a reintroduction began in 1999.

The two overlap in a band across southern Canada and the northern United States. There, the lynx usually holds high, snowy forests and the bobcat lower ground with less snow. Clearing of northern forests and milder winters have helped bobcats push north, and in Nova Scotia bobcats have been seen displacing lynx.

Diet and hunting

The bobcat is an opportunist that eats rabbits, hares, rodents, birds and sometimes deer, switching prey as conditions change; see what do bobcats eat? The Canada lynx is a specialist: snowshoe hares can make up most of its diet, especially in winter.

Because of this dependence, lynx numbers rise and fall in step with the roughly ten-year snowshoe hare cycle, a famous example of predator-prey dynamics explained in why lynx numbers rise and fall. Bobcat populations are much steadier.

Behavior and life cycle

Both cats are solitary, territorial hunters that mark their ranges with urine and scratches. Bobcats are most active around dusk and dawn, while Canada lynx are mostly nocturnal like the snowshoe hares they hunt, although both are sometimes seen by day. Both are good climbers and capable swimmers; one Canada lynx was recorded swimming about 3 km (2 mi) across the Yukon River.

Breeding is similar too. Bobcats mate mostly in February and March and give birth to usually two to four kittens in April or May. Canada lynx mate a little later, from March to early April, and give birth mainly from May to July. Lynx litter size follows the hare cycle: in years when hares are scarce, fewer kittens are born and many die. In the wild, both species can live into their mid-teens, but most do not reach ten years of age.

Can bobcats and lynx interbreed?

Yes, occasionally. Bobcat-lynx hybrids have been confirmed with DNA in a few places on the southern edge of the lynx’s range, such as Minnesota and Maine. Hybrids look intermediate, often with medium-length ear tufts and a mixed tail pattern, which makes them hard to identify from photos.

Some hybrids have produced offspring, but hybridization appears rare and is not considered a major threat to either species. Of more concern for the Canada lynx in the United States are habitat loss and shrinking snow cover, which is why it is listed as threatened in the contiguous states.