Jcc. Neale et al., A COMPARISON OF BOBCAT AND COYOTE PREDATION ON LAMBS IN NORTH-COASTALCALIFORNIA, The Journal of wildlife management, 62(2), 1998, pp. 700-706
We investigated predation on lambs by bobcats (Lynx rufus) relative to
coyotes (Canis latrans) from Tune 1994 through November 1995 at Hopla
nd Research and Extension Center (HREC) in north-coastal California, w
here both predators occur at equally high densities. Lamb losses durin
g this study were typical for HREC and surrounding ranches and include
d 64 (5.3% of lambs pastured) confirmed predator kills and 134 (11.1%)
missing individuals. Fifty-seven of the predator-killed lambs were at
tributed to coyotes, whereas none were assigned to bobcats. The propor
tion of bobcat seats containing sheep remains was small (4.2%), and oc
currence did not peak in the lambing season. suggesting that sheep con
sumed by bobcats were scavenged. Sheep were common in coyote scats (21
.4%) and occurred most frequently in seats from the winter-spring lamb
ing season. Coyotes were responsible for all lamb kills in intensively
monitored pastures for which predator species could be identified. Us
e of space by radiocollared bobcats was not noticeably influenced by t
he presence of lambs. We concluded that bobcats were not important pre
dators of lambs at HREC and not the cause for the relatively large num
bers of lambs missing and unaccounted for each year.