Biotic+Organisms

Biotic Organisms Organisms: The Ringtail Cat and the Bobcat Information: The Ringtail Cat is a mammal of the raccoon family. Their eyes are big and purple. They are smaller than housecats. They are usually hunted for their pelts. They are found in California, Colorado, Oklahoma, Oregon, Arizona, New Mexico, Nevada, Texas, and Utah. The ankle joint of the Ringtail Cat is flexible and is able to rotate 180 degrees a trait helping make it an agile climber. They are nocturnal so rarely seen. Diet: fruits, berries, insects, lizards, small rodents and birds. The mate in the spring. (Basic Information)

Information: The Bobcat is a North American of the cat family. They are about twice as big as domestic cats and their color of pelts range from grey to brown. Diet: rabbits, hares, insects, and small rodents to deer. They have similar spots like a tiger. At Petrified Forest, the Bobcats live in the Wind Caves. Some have collars with GPS devices on them. (Basic information)

Bobcats: A bobcat's role in the Petrified Forest is to live well in the Wind Caves. The Wind Caves are where they all live. Tourists even get to see these bobcats and explore the caves. They have GPS devices on them that record where the bobcat has been seven times a day. They do this to understand their knowledge about the home range and movements of the bobcats. So the Bobcats help researchers and scientists learn more about them. (Food habits, population sizes, and recommendations for landscapes of bobcats in South Dakota). If the bobcat was not included in this ecosystem, the population of its prey would greatly increase and scientists would not be as well educated about the Bobcat species in South Dakota, or in general.

Ringtail Cat: The Timpanogos Cave in the Petrified Forest has approximately 55 mammal species, one of them being the Ringtail Cat. The Ringtail Cat has no big role in the Timpanogos Cave except to attract tourists. They are only seen at night, so not often seen by park visitors. If the Ringtail Cat was not in the ecosystem of the Timpanogos Cave, then many mice, wood rats, squirrels, insects, plants, and even nectar would survive. The food web would become unbalanced.