The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFS) posted a trail-camera photo from the Imperial National Wildlife Refuge in Yuma, Arizona that has some people scratching their heads. In the photo, a bobcat saunters by with a rattlesnake in its mouth, which seems like an inadvisable prey item.
Rabbits are typically bobcats’ favorite meal in the Arizona desert, but these carnivores also eat a wide range of animals. Rodents, lizards, birds, and snakes are on the list of a bobcat’s prey items too—but, a rattlesnake?
Yep, USFWS says these cats like to “spice up their usual meal planning with an occasional rattlesnake.” In fact, bobcats are one of the few native predators willing to go for rattlesnakes, which are venomous. For this bobcat, the meal was worth the risk.
Rattlesnakes aren’t the only unlikely prey item for the bravest of bobcats. They’re even occasionally known to take down a deer.
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Here’s a bobcat vs. rattlesnake battle caught on a different trail cam in California’s Angeles National Forest:
