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Discover Nature: Bobcats

A bobcat with tan-gray, white, and black-spotted fur, perches on a tree limb in winter sunshine, dappled shade.
Watch and listen for the eerie calls of bobcats in the wild this week. Bobcats play an important role in wildlife communities as predators and scavengers.

This week on Discover Nature, listen for the eerie calls of bobcats in the wild.

Several hundred years ago, bobcats lived throughout the United States. They were largely eliminated from much of the U.S., but are still scattered throughout areas with sufficient habitat. 

On cool fall evenings, listen for their hisses, growls, snorts, and screams coming from the woods. 

Bobcats live in heavy forest cover with underbrush, and rocky outcrops, but can be observed in almost any terrestrial habitat. Bobcats and their dens often have a strong odor, as they mark their territory with urine and feces. 

Historically, they lived mostly in the Ozarks and Bootheel regions of the state, but have recently expanded to the north and west. Within their ranges, they can travel three to seven miles per night. 

As predators and scavengers, bobcats play an important role in the wildlife community, helping to balance populations of rabbits, mice, squirrels, and other small mammals, and clearing the woods of carrion. 

The Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC) closely monitors bobcat populations in the state. Learn more about Missouri’s bobcats with MDC’S online field guide

Discover Nature is sponsored by the Missouri Department of Conservation.

Kyle Felling’s work at KBIA spans more than three decades. In 2025, he became KBIA and KMUC's Station Manager. He began volunteering at the station while he was a Political Science student at the University of Missouri. After being hired as a full-time announcer, he served as the long-time local host of NPR’s All Things Considered on KBIA, and was Music Director for a number of years. Starting in 2010, Kyle became KBIA’s Program Director, overseeing on-air programming and operations while training and supervising the station’s on-air staff. During that period, KBIA regularly ranked among the top stations in the Columbia market, and among the most listened to stations in the country. He was instrumental in the launch of KBIA’s sister station, Classical 90.5 FM in 2015, and helped to build it into a strong community resource for classical music. Kyle has also worked as an instructor in the MU School of Journalism, training the next generation of journalists and strategic communicators. In his spare time, he enjoys playing competitive pinball, reading comic books and Joan Didion, watching the Kansas City Chiefs, and listening to Bruce Springsteen and the legendary E Street Band.
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