Bobcats (Lynx rufus) are large, pale kitties with small spots and bars on the pelage, short ears, and a short tail. Adult bobcats weigh 15-35 pounds. They are brownish overall, except the top of the tail has a spot of black at the tip.

Bobcats are fairly common in the deserts and mountains around Las Vegas, but they are shy and seldom seen. Occasionally, however, they move into the edges of town where it is far easier to catch and eat house cats than it is to catch kangaroo rats and rabbits.

Out in the desert, keep an eye out for bobcat scat. Unlike house cats and mountain lions, bobcats do not bury their scat. Rather, they leave it on elevated spots such as rocks on ridgelines, or in the middle of roads and washes. Left in this manner, the scat acts as a signpost for other bobcats advertising their presence in the territory.

Bobcat scat is long and narrow, and it breaks up into small segments described by one biologist as a few tootsie rolls lying on the ground. On closer inspection, each tootsie roll is composed of smaller segments all stuck together like a stack of fat disks. The scat is mostly composed of bones and hair of prey items.

Like other mammal scat, bobcat scat starts out black, damp, and stinky, but it ages to dry and brown without odor clearly showing bone and hair, and further ages to white and crumbly with white bone segments.