What Does “A Clowder of Bobcats” Mean?
Bobcats borrow “clowder” from the broader wildcat family, since a term specific to bobcats never really settled into common use. That’s fitting given how the animals actually live: bobcats are solitary and territorial, marking and patrolling home ranges that can stretch anywhere from one to several dozen square miles depending on habitat and prey availability.
Adult bobcats generally avoid each other outside of the brief breeding season, and even mothers separate from their kittens once the young cats are capable of hunting on their own, typically within eight to twelve months. Despite the name, “bobcat” groups are essentially a linguistic convenience rather than a real social unit, similar to how “pride” gets stretched to cover cougars even though cougars don’t form prides either.
Example: “Trail cameras occasionally capture what looks like a clowder of bobcats, usually just a mother teaching her nearly grown kittens to hunt.”
Related: Collective Nouns for Mammals