New Bobcat GPS Study
The Town of Kiawah Island, in partnership with the Kiawah Island Natural Habitat Conservancy, is conducting a multi-year study of fine-scale habitat use by bobcats (Felis rufus) on Kiawah Island using global positioning system (GPS) tracking collars. Bobcats play a very important role in the Kiawah Island ecosystem by helping to control small mammal and white-tailed deer populations. A healthy bobcat population is necessary to maintain the balance of wildlife communities currently present on Kiawah Island.
A pilot GPS study was initiated in 2007. Four bobcats were fitted with collars during March 2007 and tracked extensively for approximately one month. An additional collar was placed on a bobcat in April 2007 and tracked until June 2007. All 5 of the GPS collars have dropped off of the animals and the data has been downloaded. Each GPS collar contained approximately 2,400 individual locations for each bobcat. All of this data can be view interactively by following the link to the Kiawah Island Bobcat Tracker above or by follwoing the links below for each cat. These data will allow researchers to determine preferred habitat types, travel corridors, and other areas of importance to bobcats on Kiawah Island. The findings from this study, and future GPS studies, will aid in making future land management and conservation decisions.
The 2007 Pilot Bobcat GPS Study Report is now available. Click here
2008 Bobcat GPS Project
Trapping for the 2008 study was conducted during March-April. 15 unique bobcats were captured during 5 weeks of trapping effort, including 3 adult females, 4 adult males, and 8 juvenile bobcats. Eight bobcats received Televilt GPS/UHF/VHF collars which will allow for close monitoring of their movement patterns and habitat use for up to 2 years. The new collars are performing adequately in the field and the preliminary data is beginning to show some interesting results. The home ranges of the 8 collared cats have fairly equal distribution from west to east on Kiawah and encompass most of the high ground on the island. Both of our east end (Cougar Island) cats utilize Little Bear Island, while bobcat 165.180, a juvenile male located on the western portion of Kiawah, is spending about 60 percent of his time on Seabrook Island, crossing by way of the Kiawah Island bridge.
One bobcat den was located during 2008. On May 1st, Bobcat 165.421, collared in the 2004 VHF study, was located on Captain Sam’s Spit with 2 healthy male kittens approximately 2 weeks old.