Nevada mammals

Bobcat in Nevada

Lynx rufus

Native to Nevada S5 Secure in Nevada

Not listed as nonindigenous in Nevada by USGS NAS; native to its Nevada range.

IUCN Red List status

  1. LC
  2. NT
  3. VU
  4. EN
  5. CR
  6. EW
  7. EX

LC – Least Concern

Widespread and abundant; not at risk.

Bobcat in Nevada, by the numbers

Common in Nevada 33rd most recorded of 142 mammals logged in Nevada

392 occurrence records
250 with iNaturalist photos
May 29, 2026 Last seen in Nevada

Records from 2000–2026.

392 total records count every Nevada occurrence from GBIF and iNaturalist; the map plots a georeferenced sample of 300; the monthly chart covers the 390 records with a full observation date.

When to look for the Bobcat in Nevada

Most sightings fall in December to January.

390 Nevada occurrence records (iNaturalist and GBIF) by month of year, 2000–2026. Shows when the species is recorded, not a guarantee of presence.

Monthly Nevada records (table)
MonthRecords
January54
February29
March18
April35
May18
June38
July26
August26
September23
October28
November28
December67

Monthly bobcat occurrence records (iNaturalist and GBIF) in Nevada, 2000–2026.

Seasonality

Year-round in Nevada, with recorded sightings peaking in December–January.

Occurrence map

Where Bobcat has been recorded in Nevada

300 records mapped · zoom and drag to explore

300 Nevada records mapped

Notable places to look

Park, forest, or monumentiNaturalist records
Toiyabe National Forest 35
Great Basin National Park 3
Mt. Rose Wilderness 2
Spring Mountain Ranch State Park 1
Humboldt National Forest 1

Protected places with the most bobcat sightings, from the USGS Protected Areas Database plus named mountain ranges, good spots to look, not a full breakdown, so they don't sum to the total.

Where it's recorded in Nevada

CountyRecords
Washoe County 119
Clark County 80
Nye County 36
Storey County 35
Humboldt County 27
White Pine County 19
Elko County 13
Lincoln County 11
Douglas County 9
Lyon County 9
Esmeralda County 8
Churchill County 8
5 other counties 18

The complete county distribution, spread across 17 Nevada counties. Every occurrence record falls in one county, so these sum to the total. Counties from GBIF and US Census boundaries.

Nevada records for the bobcat are anchored by Desert National Wildlife Refuge and Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest. They show where people have reported it, not how many animals live there.

The Nevada records bridge the state’s southern desert country and its higher central or northern ranges. That broad spread matters more than any single hotspot. The strongest reporting falls in Nevada’s cooler months, when desert travel is easier. That’s a record pattern, not proof that the animal is more numerous then.

The file combines 250 research-grade iNaturalist records and 361 GBIF records. Those 611 records measure documented encounters, not Nevada’s population size. It’s native to Nevada. Nevada doesn’t specifically list it under the state’s conservation framework, and the IUCN lists it as Least Concern.

Occurrence data from iNaturalist and GBIF.

Bobcat in other states

View all states →

More mammals in Nevada in the atlas

Data & sources

The data and visualizations on this page draw on these open sources:

  • GBIFCC-BY 4.0occurrence records behind the range map, elevation, and record counts
  • iNaturalistCC0 / CC-BY / CC-BY-SAobservations, photos, and audio recordings
  • NatureServe ExplorerCC-BYthe state conservation rank
  • IUCN Red Listattributed factthe global conservation status
  • USGS NASpublic domainnative / introduced status
  • Natural Earthpublic domainthe relief basemap
  • USFSpublic domainnational-forest boundaries
  • USGS Protected Areas Databasepublic domainthe named parks, forests, and refuges behind "notable places to look"