The Bobcat (Lynx rufus), also known as the red lynx, is a medium-sized cat native to North America. It ranges from southern Canada through most of the contiguous United States to Oaxaca in Mexico. It is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List since 2002, due to its wide distribution and large population. Although it has been hunted extensively both for sport and fur, populations have proven stable, though declining in some areas.

It has distinctive black bars on its forelegs and a black-tipped, stubby (or "bobbed") tail, from which it derives its name. It reaches a total length (including the tail) of up to 125 cm (50 in). It is an adaptable predator inhabiting wooded areas, semidesert, urban edge, forest edge, and swampland environments. It remains in some of its original range, but populations are vulnerable to extirpation by coyotes and domestic animals. Though the bobcat prefers rabbits and hares, it hunts insects, chickens, geese and other birds, small rodents, and deer. Prey selection depends on location and habitat, season, and abundance. Like most cats, the bobcat is territorial and largely solitary, although with some overlap in home ranges. It uses several methods to mark its territorial boundaries, including claw marks and deposits of urine or feces. The bobcat breeds from winter into spring and has a gestation period of about two months.

Two subspecies are recognised: one east of the Great Plains, and the other west of the Great Plains. It is featured in some stories of the indigenous peoples of North and Central America, and in the folklore of European-descended inhabitants of the Americas.

The bobcat is an adaptable species. It prefers woodlands—deciduous, coniferous, or mixed—but does not depend exclusively on the deep forest. It ranges from the humid swamps of Florida to desert lands of Texas or rugged mountain areas. It makes its home near agricultural areas, if rocky ledges, swamps, or forested tracts are present; its spotted coat serves as camouflage. The population of the bobcat depends primarily on the population of its prey; other principal factors in the selection of habitat type include protection from severe weather, availability of resting and den sites, dense cover for hunting and escape, and freedom from disturbance.

The bobcat's range does not seem to be limited by human populations, but by availability of suitable habitat; only large, intensively cultivated tracts are unsuitable for the species. The animal may appear in back yards in "urban edge" environments, where human development intersects with natural habitats. If chased by a dog, it usually climbs up a tree.

The historical range of the bobcat was from southern Canada, throughout the United States, and as far south as the Mexican state of Oaxaca, and it still persists across much of this area. In the 20th century, it was thought to have lost territory in the US Midwest and parts of the Northeast, including southern Minnesota, eastern South Dakota, and much of Missouri, mostly due to habitat changes from modern agricultural practices. While thought to no longer exist in western New York and Pennsylvania, multiple confirmed sightings of bobcats (including dead specimens) have been recently reported in New York's Southern Tier and in central New York, and a bobcat was captured in 2018 on a tourist boat in Downtown Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. In addition, bobcat sightings have been confirmed in northern Indiana, and one was killed near Albion, Michigan, in 2008. In early March 2010, a bobcat was sighted (and later captured by animal control authorities) in a parking garage in downtown Houston. By 2010, bobcats appear to have recolonized many states, occurring in every state in the contiguous 48 except Delaware.

Southwestern Bobcat (Lynx rufus baileyi) - Seen in the wild in Cave Creek Canyon, Southeastern Arizona. A couple captive shots from the Sonora Desert Museum in Tucson as well.

Northwestern Bobcat (Lynx rufus fasciatus) - Seen several times on the Olympic Peninsula Washington

The Iberian lynx (Lynx pardinus) is a wild cat species endemic to the Iberian Peninsula in southwestern Europe. It is listed as Endangered on the IUCN Red List. In the 20th century, the Iberian lynx population had declined because of overhunting, poaching, fragmentation of suitable habitats, and the population decline of its main prey species, the European rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus), caused by myxomatosis and rabbit haemorrhagic disease.

By the turn of the 21st century, the Iberian lynx was on the verge of extinction, as only 94 individuals survived in two isolated subpopulations in Andalusia in 2002. Conservation measures have been implemented since then, which included improving habitat, restocking of rabbits, translocating, reintroducing and monitoring Iberian lynxes. By 2012, the population had increased to 326 individuals, to 855 in 2020, and to 1,111 in 2021.

The Iberian lynx was once present throughout the Iberian Peninsula. In the 1950s, the northern population extended from the Mediterranean to Galicia and parts of northern Portugal, and the southern population from central to southern Spain. Populations declined from 15 subpopulations in the 1940s to only two subpopulations in the early 1990s, most noticeably in Montes de Toledo and Sierra Morena. Before 1973, it was present in Sierra de Gata, Montes de Toledo, eastern Sierra Morena, Sierra de Relumbrar and coastal plains in the Doñana area. Between the early 1960s and 2000, it has lost about 80% of its former range. In 2012, it was restricted to very limited areas in southern Spain, with breeding only confirmed in Sierra Morena and Doñana coastal plains.[3] As of 2014, its range included the Sierra Morena and Montes de Toledo of Castilla-La Mancha and the Matachel Valley of Extremadura in Spain, and the Guadiana Valley in Portugal.

Fossil remains indicate that the Iberian lynx had a wider range during the Late Pleistocene and early Holocene. Five lynx remains found in Arene Candide in northern Italy date to about 24,820–18,620 before present. One specimen found in Cabias cave in southern France was radiocarbon dated to 3780±90 before present. In 2021, a large concentration of Iberian lynxes dating to 40,000 years ago were identified for the first time in southern Italy, at the fossil site of Ingarano in Apulia.

The Iberian lynx prefers heterogeneous environments of open grassland mixed with dense shrubs such as strawberry tree, mastic, and juniper, and trees such as holm oak and cork oak. It is now largely restricted to mountainous areas.

Iberian Lynx (Lynx pardinus) - seen several in Andalucia Spain in Sierra de Andujar National Park