The Mexican bobcat is the smallest of the bobcat subspecies and grows to about twice the size of a house cat. It is similar in appearance to the lynx except for the tail, which is darker in color. The coat color of the Mexican bobcat varies from light gray to reddish brown. The coat is covered in more spots than that of the northern subspecies of bobcat and has shorter, denser hair than its northern cousin. It has distinctive black stripes of fur on the forelegs and a black tip on the tail along with black-tipped ears and a whiskered face. A tuft of fur frames the animal's face.
Mexican bobcats are found throughout Mexico, but primarily in Baja, western Mexico, and southward from the Sonoran desert. They also occur in the Mexican states of Sinaloa and Nayarit, as well as parts of Sonora, Jalisco, Durango, San Luis Potosí, Nuevo León, Hidalgo, Morelos, Puebla, Tlaxcala, Tamaulipas, Michoacán, Guerrero, Veracruz, and Oaxaca. Mexican bobcats live in dry forests, coastal swamps, deserts, and dry grasslands and scrublands.
Mexican bobcats are nocturnal animals and are rarely seen by humans. They are solitary and territorial. The territory of a male may stretch for a few miles and overlap with the territories of several females and other males. The female’s territory rarely overlaps with another female's territory. Bobcats are very adaptable hunters. They hunt by stalking their prey and then ambushing with a short chase or pounce.
Mexican bobcats are carnivores. They typically hunt rodents, jackrabbits, Collared peccaries, birds, deer, and White-nosed coatis.
Little is known about the mating system of Mexican bobcats. Generally, bobcats are polygynandrous (promiscuous) and associate with each other only for the brief period necessary for courtship and mating, with both males and females having multiple partners. The Mexican bobcat breeding season can take place anytime during the year and is not strictly limited to spring. The female gives birth to a litter of 2 to 3 kittens, which she raises on her own.
The main threats to the Mexican bobcats include habitat destruction, illegal trapping and shooting, and militarization of the U.S. - Mexico border.
According to IUCN Red List, the bobcat population sizes and status in Mexico are not well known.