Brave bobcat stalking alligator across road has second thoughts, Florida video shows
A bobcat was seen stalking an alligator in rural Florida and video filmed by a passing motorist shows the bobcat wisely had second thoughts.
The rarely witnessed encounter occurred Tuesday, March 28, near Bartow and wildlife photographer Cathy Terry says nothing about it turned out as expected.
Bobcats typically don’t hunt during the day, and aren’t known to take on alligators.
And 5-foot alligators aren’t known to be afraid of bobcats.
“I came around a curve and saw the little alligator almost in the middle of the road and stopped,” Terry told McClatchy News.
“All of a sudden, this bobcat whooshes out of the brush and tall grass, like a cat that has been lying in hiding, watching something. It ran out and then stopped. I don’t think the bobcat knew itself what it was about to do next.”
Her video shows the bobcat was following the alligator, but was also hesitant. She assumes it was sizing up its slow-moving prey.
“I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. I got goose bumps,” she said. “I assume the bobcat was thinking: ‘Maybe I’m going to eat it, or maybe not.’”
The 24-second video ends too early to reveal the outcome, but Terry says the bobcat decided against attacking the alligator, and began walking a parallel path across the same pasture.
“It crossed into the woods. Actually, it sauntered, then started grooming itself,” she says. “The alligator was headed from a phosphate pond to a creek on the other side of the road, and that’s where it ended up.”
The video has been seen 67,000 times on social media sites such as Unseen Florida and Florida Birds and Wildlife, and has gotten more than 1,500 reactions and comments as of April 3.
Among the commenters are people who note the bobcat seemed larger than average, but the alligator was still too big for it. Others speculated on which might come out the winner.
“Catburger,” Fern Stumbo said.
“Very cool, but not a road I’d ever want to stroll,” Deborah Ebbers wrote.
“That cat must be hungry to even think about it,” Lora Jean posted.
“Gators and bobcats. ... Ya just can’t get much more American than that!” Km Brisbee wrote.
Terry, who also serves as a rescuer for birds of prey, says the encounter played out in a fragile area along Noralyn Mine Road that is rebounding from decades of phosphate mining. It’s about a mile from the home she shares with her husband, Lloyd.
“I wanted others to get a chance to see something so rare, and I love the reaction to the video,” she says.
Bartow is about 45 miles east of Tampa.
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