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Yes, bobcats can mate with cougars. Why would they do this? The theory of over hunting of a mountain lion species in an area lends to this. Years ago, the California Mountain Lion was not protected and ranchers regularly hunted the cats down for reason of depredation. The decrease in lion population left the door open, so to speak for cross breading. They both have 38 pair of chromosomes. Still researching to understand what I saw. The animal has a short tail which indicates not a recessive gene from a mountain lion but a dominant gene from a bobcat. The hair coat is long, and may appear to be red in color. The size of the animal varies with females being shorter in height. A mountain lion has 6 mammae and a bobcat has 4 mammae, both carnivore, both occupy the same habitat, both have a radius that overlaps, white tail deer prey in common, bobcats are opportunistic hunters eating small prey, the cross eats primarily white tail, goat, calves and smaller prey. More research is being done. These cross cats have been seen.

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14y ago

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