How to tell the difference between a mountain lion and a bobcat

It’s been more than 100 years since mountain lions have lived in the Smokies. However, if you spend enough time around mountain folk, you’ll hear of someone who knows someone who knows someone who saw a panther – or its prints – in the national park.

Sure, the mountains are big and stretch deep into Georgia, which isn’t that far from Florida, where panthers continue to exist. And it’s a fact that a Florida panther, which is usually based in South Florida, has strayed up into Georgia. There have also been confirmed sightings of Western male mountain lions making the long trek East, and there have been a handful of confirmed sightings in West Tennessee in recent years. So, I try to keep an open mind. I've heard lots of people argue that they have seen mountain lions in the area. But ultimately, despite the various reports, there’s currently no evidence of a breeding population of mountain lions, cougars or panthers in the mountains of East Tennessee.

IN THIS ARTICLE

• What large cats live in the Smoky Mountains?
• How can you tell a bobcat from a mountain lion?
• Are bobcats dangerous to humans?

What large cats live in the Smoky Mountains?

While you won't find mountain lions, cougars or panthers in the Smokies, you could come across a bobcat. I think this is why people think there are larger cats in the Smokies. For example, look at what happened in September of 2020. A policeman reported a tiger loose in Knox County. Questions were asked about any place a tiger might have escaped from – of which there is a surprising number. Eventually, all regional tigers were accounted for. The search turned up nothing. The policeman’s claim was placed under a little more scrutiny. About a week later, officials indicated they believed what the policeman had seen early that morning was not a tiger. It was a bobcat.

In my opinion, if a policeman can mistake a bobcat for a tiger, then it is not a leap to assume the majority of people who spot cougars, panthers and mountain lions are not seeing those animals. They’re seeing bobcats. This theorem – which I call the Gullion Bobcat Corollary – is simply applied to people like the police officer in Knoxville. Those folks who were going about their normal day and were confronted with a scary ball of claws and teeth and pain known as a bobcat. Adrenaline kicks in and the bobcat starts to look much bigger than it is.

How can you tell a bobcat from a mountain lion?

To tell the difference, bobcats are significantly smaller wild cats than cougars or panthers or mountain lions. A bobcat weighs 13 to 40 pounds, on average. A cougar can weigh 70 to 180 pounds. Also, your average bobcat is 2 to 4 feet long with a gray to brown coat and a short “bobbed” tail. They live all over the United States and Canada and are – from a safe distance – cute as pie. Please, however, do not try to pet a bobcat. Theoretically, a bobcat encounter could be fatal, but the more likely result of a bobcat is some nasty scratches, a few deep cuts and a lot of pain.

A mountain lion and a bobcat often share a similar habitat, usually living in semi-deserts or swamps or forests. They are also both solitary animals. However, they vary quite a bit in physical characteristics. A mountain lion is something to be feared. Weighing in at three to four or even five times larger than a bobcat, the mountain lion is up to 6 feet long, has an orange-brown to yellow-brown coat, a slender body, a rounded head and a long, cylindrical tail with a dark tip. Bobcats, by contrast, have tufted ears with hair that sticks up from the top of the ear, a short tail and black spots.

Are bobcats dangerous to humans?

I couldn’t find evidence of a fatal bobcat incident with a human, though I figure it has to have happened at some point. Bobcat encounters are rare and often these animals completely avoid human contact unless they are rabid. Bobcats are predators and carnivores whose prey includes squirrels, raccoons, chickens, rabbits, birds, mice and other rodents or smaller creatures. Mountain lions, by contrast, primarily eat bigger game such as deer. Mountain lion or cougar fatalities are also rare but have happened. According to the Wikipedia page devoted to fatal cougar attacks, “A total of 126 , 27 of which are fatal, have been documented in North America in the past 100 years." But fatal incidents occur much less frequently than snake bites, lightning strikes or bee stings.

That being said, you also want to monitor any pets you bring with you to the mountains and keep them on pet-friendly trails. Have you seen any big cats or large cats in the Smoky Mountains? Let me know in the comments!