Few of us have encountered a bobcat, but almost all of us have been near this secretive animal.
“They’re our neighbors, even if we don’t see them,” said Nicole Gorman, the Virginia Tech Ph.D. candidate conducting the Bobcat Movement Ecology Project in Albemarle County. The project includes Virginia Tech researchers in collaboration with the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute, the Albemarle Natural Heritage Committee, and the Virginia Safe Wildlife Corridors Collaborative.
Bobcats, inherently fascinating and mysterious, can be found in almost every state. But that’s not the only reason researchers are trying to understand their patterns. They call bobcats an umbrella species, because their habits can offer insight into the needs of other wildlife and their interactions with civilization…