Bobcat vs Mountain Lion: Size, Tail and Key Differences

Key differences at a glance

The bobcat and the cougar, also called the mountain lion or puma, are North America’s two most widespread wild cats, and their ranges overlap across much of the western United States, Mexico and Florida. Both are Least Concern on the IUCN Red List. Despite the frequent mix-ups in sighting reports, they are very different animals.

A cougar is a large cat built to kill deer. A bobcat is a medium-sized lynx that mostly hunts rabbits and rodents. If you remember three things, make them size, tail length and spots.

Size: which is bigger?

The cougar is far bigger. Adult male cougars usually weigh 53–72 kg (117–159 lb) and females 34–48 kg (75–106 lb), and they stand about 60–90 cm (24–35 in) at the shoulder. Including the tail, males average about 2.4 m (7 ft 10 in) from nose to tail tip.

Bobcats typically weigh 4–18 kg (9–40 lb), stand about 45–60 cm (18–24 in) at the shoulder, and are about 75–125 cm (30–49 in) long including the short tail. In other words, an average male cougar weighs about as much as six average male bobcats. More detail is in how big is a bobcat? and how big do mountain lions get?

Tail: long or bobbed

The tail is the most useful field mark, especially on trail-camera photos where size is hard to judge. A cougar’s tail is long and heavy, about 63–95 cm (25–37 in), roughly a third of its total length, with a dark tip. It often hangs down and curves up at the end.

A bobcat’s tail is a short stub of 9–20 cm (3.5–8 in), barred with dark bands and black only on the top of the tip. A cat with a long tail is never a bobcat.

Coat, face and ears

Adult cougars have a plain, uniform coat, tawny to grayish or reddish, with lighter fur on the chest, throat and muzzle and dark marks at the sides of the muzzle. Only cougar kittens and young juveniles are spotted, and the spots fade as they grow. Cougar ears are small and rounded, without tufts.

Bobcats are clearly spotted and streaked, with black bars on the front legs, pointed ears with short black tufts, and a broad face framed by cheek ruffs. These features are visible even at a distance in good light.

Tracks and signs

Both cats have retractable claws, so their tracks usually show four toes and no claw marks. The difference is size. A bobcat’s print is about 4–5 cm (1.5–2 in) across, only a little larger than a house cat’s. A cougar’s print is about 8–10 cm (3–4 in) wide, closer to the size of a large dog’s track, but rounder and without claw marks.

Cougars also leave larger signs, such as deer carcasses dragged into cover and covered with debris. Bobcats cache food too, but their kills are usually rabbits and other small animals.

Diet and range

Cougars hunt large prey. In North America, deer, elk and other hoofed mammals make up most of their diet. Bobcats feed mainly on rabbits, hares and rodents, and take deer only occasionally, usually fawns.

The cougar has the largest range of any wild land mammal in the Americas, from the Yukon in Canada to the southern Andes in Chile. In the United States and Canada it lives mainly in the West, with the endangered Florida panther population in southern Florida and a slow recolonization of the Midwest. Bobcats live from southern Canada to Oaxaca in Mexico, including nearly all of the eastern United States, where wild cougars are now rare.

Behavior, family life and lifespan

Both species are solitary and territorial, and both are most active around dusk, night and dawn. Their home ranges differ greatly in size. A bobcat usually uses a few to about a hundred square kilometers, while an adult male cougar often roams over several hundred square kilometers, because large prey such as deer is spread thinly across the land.

Family life follows the same pattern but on a different timescale. A female bobcat raises usually two to four kittens, which leave her before they are a year old. A female cougar usually has two cubs after a gestation of about three months, and the young stay with her for one to two years while they learn to hunt deer. In the wild, cougars usually live about 8–13 years and bobcats rarely more than about 10, although individuals of both species have reached their mid-teens.

Neither cat roars. Cougars purr, hiss, growl and make loud screams and whistle-like calls, while bobcats are mostly silent except for the screams and yowls of the breeding season.

Danger to people

Both cats avoid people, and attacks are rare. Cougars, however, are big enough to kill an adult human. Researchers counted about 88 confirmed cougar attacks on people in North America between 1890 and 2004, about 20 of them fatal; a handful more have occurred since. Bobcats are much smaller, and the rare bobcat attacks usually involve animals with rabies.

In cougar country, wildlife agencies advise keeping children close, never running from a cougar, making yourself look large and backing away slowly. If anyone is injured by a wild animal, seek emergency medical help immediately or call 911. For bobcats, see are bobcats dangerous?

Reporting a sighting correctly

Many “mountain lion” sightings, especially in the eastern United States, turn out to be bobcats, house cats, dogs or even deer, while some cougars are mistaken for large dogs. Wildlife agencies can only confirm a sighting with good evidence, such as a clear photo, a video, tracks with something for scale, or DNA from hair or droppings.

If you see a large cat, note the tail length, size compared with nearby objects, coat pattern and ears, take a photo from a safe distance if possible, and report it to your state or provincial wildlife agency. Accurate reports help biologists track both species.